The Eight Powers
by Lunar Maelstrom
Summary: AU. They were the most popular people in the school, named 'the Eight Powers' - and they all hated each other's guts. When the teachers decide that enough is enough, all rules will be broken. Continued again in EP: Take Two.
1. Fight! Part I

**Summary:** They were the most popular people in the school, named 'the Eight Powers' - and they all hated each other's guts. However, when the teachers finally decide that enough is enough and that they should learn to get along, all rules will be bent, broken or completely re-written. After all, all's fair in love and war. And this is both.

**A/N:** This chapter has been split into two parts because I thought it was too long altogether. Also, the computer's showing me this story in html code, so it's quite exasperating to fix. If anybody has any helpful suggestions to revert the Edit/Preview Document bit to how it originally was, I'd be forever grateful. Expect very slow updates. Criticism welcome. Oh, and I've recently edited to fix up a few things. As well as add pairings…

**Pairings: **Rimahiko, Amuto, Kutau and possible Yuukari. I'm not focusing on any couple in particular, and expect a long wait 'til you get to the romance.

**Warnings:** There will be swearing, because they are teenagers. There will be references to things of a sexual nature, because they are teenagers. There will be fights (hey, look at the title!) of a physical nature, because they're teenagers. This is, basically, a story written by a teenager, about teenagers, for teenagers. What else would you expect?

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Shugo Chara! I do not know how to make it any clearer than that. So buzz off lawyers; I'm armed with a golf club. And I will not repeat this over and over again in every chapter just to prove a point. Deal with it.

~*~

**The Eight Powers**

**Fight! (Part I)**

Amu sauntered through the halls of the school, bag hefted over her shoulder and a bored expression plastered on her face. People stopped to stare and mutter about her when she passed. It didn't matter; she was used to it. After all, she was the one and only, 'Cool and Spicy' Amu Hinamori. Nobody dared to approach her, although some of her fans, consisting of both girls and boys, followed discreetly from a distance. Half of her pink hair was gathered into a high side ponytail while the rest hung down to her shoulders freely and her indifferent golden eyes watched as students whispered the latest rumour about her into their friends' ears.

She was too busy watching what they were doing to notice where she was going and accidentally shoved hard into somebody's shoulder. "Hey..." she started, about to advise the other person to 'watch it', even though it was probably her fault. Amu Hinamori did not apologize to anybody.

"Are you blind? Can't you see where you're going?" a voice asked coldly. Amu looked down into the face of Rima Mashiro. The girl was extraordinarily short and looked like she was drowning in the amount of wavy blonde hair she possessed. Even though she was small, Rima was renowned to be the most frigid girl in school, earning her the nickname 'Ice Princess'. This did not stop her from having a horde of fanboys surround her every second of every day, catering to her every whim, however.

"Whatever, midget. Blame others for your own mistakes if you must," Amu said, not bothering to meet the other girl's hazel eyes as she did so. A chorus of "Ah, so cool!" could be heard in the background. Rima's fanboys sniffed or gasped at the insult.

"Of course; 'Cool and Spicy' Hinamori. I should've known. We wouldn't want others to know what a bumbling, incompetent fool you are, yes?" Rima replied casually. And the fanboys fell head over heels all over again while Amu's fans gasped this time.

"Yeah, just get out of my way, Goldilocks. I've got better things to do," said Amu disinterestedly, brushing past the shorter girl.

"What, like, going to the classroom _alone_, and going to lunch to sit _by yourself_? I wonder if you haven't noticed, Hinamori, but you've got no friends," Rima stated, inspecting her perfectly manicured nails. "Your fans won't even come near you. My, how sad your life must be."

"Oh? You're lecturing me about friends, kid?" Amu asked dangerously.

"Kid? You're even more stupid than you look. I'm in your grade, moron," Rima answered smoothly. It was true; Amu and Rima were both sixteen-year-old Sophomores.

"Whatever. I don't see you being very buddy-buddy with anyone either, Mashiro. All you've got are some slaves willing to do the dirty work for you. I work fine by myself and, unlike you, have no need to rely on others."

"Oh, I don't need them, but they make life that much easier, no? Honestly, you are a simpleton," said Rima, shaking her head sadly.

"I'd be careful about what I say if I were you. Wouldn't want you to get hurt, would we, being so _small_ and _delicate_, right, dwarf?"

"Likewise, you wouldn't want to get hurt either would you, being so _completely alone_ and _self-reliant_ all the time," Rima countered without a blink.

"I can handle anything that comes my way, but can you?" Amu sneered.

"I won't need to. It's why I have the love-slaves, after all," said the unsmiling girl. "Well, see you around, Hinamori."

"Bye, Mashiro."

The two girls strode past each other, heading in opposite directions. As the fangroups passed each other, however, glares and insults were exchanged. Things were already nearing a boiling point, and with the start of the new year, they were soon going to bubble over.

-------

"Aw, can't you come with me on just one date?" Kukai asked, grinning charmingly at the pretty brunette. She was a tough cookie to crack, but he was convinced she would come around eventually.

"I-I already told you, I like s-someone else," she stuttered, searching for an escape. Kukai had her trapped against the lockers, arms on either side of her head and face inches away from hers. He was very good-looking, and her resolve was weakening by the moment.

It was well-known that Kukai Souma, captain of the football team and candidate for captaincy of almost every other sporting team in school, was a jock and a player. With his messy, reddish-brown locks, green eyes, charming smile and good build, it wasn't hard to see why. The student body had taken to calling him the 'Wandering Phoenix' for this reason as well as for his sports prowess.

Usually, he was surrounded by other jocks and cheerleading bimbos whose collective IQ was lower than a goldfish's. The exception was when he was luring another girl into his arms and then added their name to the list. What list? The list of those girls who had been taken by him. Of course, there were a few girls he wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole, but all the worthwhile ones were slowly hunted down and recorded.

"Oh, they don't deserve you, anyway, whoever it is," Kukai said dismissively.

"B-but..."

"One date," he insisted.

"I-I can't..."

"Come on. It's just a..." Kukai trailed off when a new voice came from behind him.

"Do we have a problem here?" a smiling, purple-haired boy asked. This was Nagihiko Fujisaki, a walking bundle of contradictions. He always smiled politely while he was talking, never got flustered, and had hair that reached down to his waist. Usually, a person like that would be one of the first targets for bullying, but not this one. For this one, the student body had nicknamed, only half-jokingly, 'the Snake'. Once you knew that, you could catch the subtle glint in his brown eyes when he got really angry.

Kukai smirked. "Not unless you make it one, Fujisaki."

Nagihiko nodded understandingly, still smiling. "Well, jock; you see, this lady confessed to me just yesterday. Apparently, she prefers somebody more... shall we say, sensible - which is a polite way of saying 'not idiotic'. So she stays with me and you can go back to one of your bimbos or sluts who wouldn't know the answer to one plus one if it came up to them and started pulling their hair by their badly-dyed roots," Nagihiko explained with a friendly manner.

Kukai, like anybody else who was on the receiving end of Nagihiko's disapproval, was a little disconcerted. The open face, amiable tone of voice and relaxed body language just didn't add up with the words coming out of his mouth.

Nagihiko 'the Snake' Fujisaki wasn't ever bullied for several reasons. He was _smart_. He could mentally run rings around any thug that dared to mess with him. He was _fast_. Forget mentally running rings around the bullies, he could run them in real life too; after all, he was the captain of the basketball team - the only team that Kukai didn't have a chance to be captain for because the current one was more than a match for him. As well as being smart and fast, he was _strong_. Strong enough to take on anybody in a one-on-one fight if need be. On unrelated information, Nagihiko was also a fantastic break-dancer.

On the other hand, Nagihiko made enemies of people far too easily. He used his words of venom and charming smile against everybody he disliked, which was an overwhelming majority of people. Of course, he still had a large number of fans, most of which were female admirers, and this elevated him to the status of one of the most popular students in the school. One thing that set his admirers apart from Kukai's was that his were slightly more sophisticated; they had brains and they could use them.

Kukai finally gathered himself together. "Look man, I didn't mean any harm. I was just asking for a date, that's all," he said, raising his arms in surrender. He had heard the rumour that Nagihiko was actually part of a gang and wouldn't put it past the guy.

"And the lady said no. So why don't you stop harassing her and shove off somewhere else before I have to do something that we'll both regret later," he replied agreeably. Kukai made a face and pushed away from the girl.

"Damn bitch ain't worth this," he mumbled rather loudly. The girl in question heard it, certainly, for she raised her hand to slap him across the face. Unfortunately for her, Kukai's reflexes were fast, and he caught her arm before the blow could connect. What he hadn't been prepared for was a lightning-fast punch in the stomach from none other than Nagihiko himself. Kukai didn't have a chance to double over as the other guy grabbed the collar of the sports jersey he was wearing and slammed him against the lockers.

Everybody 'ooh'ed at the display, some of the less violent students scurrying away. The rest of the students just got themselves ready for a good show. They were all cheering or booing at this point. None of Kukai's jocks moved to help him because it'd make him look bad in front of the crowd. It would look _particularly_ bad because 'the Snake' was still sixteen and a Sophomore, whereas Kukai was a seventeen-year old Junior. Perhaps later on after school, when nobody was around, they'd teach the punk a lesson. Or try to at any rate.

"Say that one more time, jackass," Nagihiko said, smile still in place.

"That _bitch_ ain't _worth_ this," Kukai spat, not about to back down from a challenge. Nagihiko let go with one hand to punch him on the face but Kukai got one in faster, right in _his_ stomach this time. A blow for a blow.

The red-head swung again while Nagihiko was doubled over but the other guy's hand snaked up and caught it before it could connect. Kukai found himself jerked forward by the arm, his own momentum working against him and Nagihiko managed to throw the punch to the face that he'd wanted.

Kukai staggered backwords, wiping his bleeding lip with a sleeve. The two readied themselves for another exchange of blows -

Somebody coughed politely. It was a quiet, unassuming cough that somehow managed to rise above all the noise and cast a spell on it so that it died down. Reluctantly, and never taking their eyes off the other, Kukai and Nagihiko straightened up. Or at least, straightened as much as their aching selves would allow. Nagihiko turned around with a carefree smile that you'd expect during a picnic, not a brawl. Kukai, in worse shape, was leaning against the lockers and panting heavily, glaring at the back of Nagihiko's head.

"You two are going to be joining me for detention after school," Nikaido-sensei said firmly. He was usually a kind, bumbling, easygoing teacher, but at times like this, he would smile grimly and his face would grow dark and menacing. Some people feared for their lives when the look was directed at them, the effect enhanced by the fact that he was the last person you expected it from.

"Of course, sir," Nagihiko replied serenely. Apart from his slightly ragged breathing, he showed no signs of having been in a fight.

"Yes sir," Kukai muttered, feeling the bruise forming on the side of his face.

Before the teacher could turn on them, the students hurried off to their original destinations. Naturally, in less than five minutes the entire school would know about the fight between two of the most popular students there. Miniature arguments occurred as they debated whose fault it was, and there was even an almost-slap that didn't happen because somebody stopped the girl just in time.

~*~

**A/N**: I hope you enjoy!


	2. Fight! Part II

**A/N:** Since people have been asking, I thought I'd just drop in a few comments. One, the OOCness. They all have their reasons and will become much more IC later on, if you can bear with me. Two, the swearing. I usually don't swear much (read: at all) but it adds to the realism of the story. If the worst they said was "Oh, you meanie!" then it'd sound like a bunch of five-year-olds fighting over a pencil. There will be a lot less swearing later on. I think. No promises. And on with the rest of the chapter.

~*~

**Fight! (Part II)**

"Okay. The practice was good; but it wasn't up to standard," Yaya told them, her hands on her hips. "You," she said, pointing to a girl, "need to work on your attitude. Your moves and everything are fine, but you should be in my face, not just going through the motions. You," she pointed to another girl, "you've got the attitude, but frankly, your entire routine was out of time and imprecise."

The first girl nodded, noting the fact down dutifully. The second one just flipped her hair in an 'I know you're wrong but since you're captain I won't say anything and I deserve the post way more than you do anyhow' way.

"No, don't just flip your hair at me, okay? You're only on the team because you've got enough money to bribe the principal. I'll be damned if I let you ruin everything the other girls worked for, okay?" said Yaya, narrowing her brown eyes.

Yaya Yuiki, the captain of the cheerleading team, was another one of the most popular students in school. She had plenty of what she called 'attitude', being energetic and sassy. She was also surprisingly smart for a cheerleader, even if she was shorter than the average girl. In fact, she was slowly weeding out some of the airheaded bimbos who couldn't tell a switch-leap from an L-lift. Despite this, quite a few of them found a way to stay in the team but she was actually improving the dances and routines and the quality of their performances. They still had a bad reputation for blonde whores, and among these said whores she was getting a reputation for being an arrogant bitch, and even the football players were pissed off that their favourite members were getting kicked off but she refused to back down. The students called her the 'Sassy Witch'. After all, what she was doing was a little bit like magic, especially considering the fact that Yaya was a mere Freshman.

"Alright, positions everybody!" Yaya ordered, retying her light brown hair into a ponytail so it wouldn't get in the way. "Ready?"

"Oka-"

"How disgusting," a voice interrupted.

Yaya's head snapped around so that she could look at the intruder. "Oh, you," she said distastefully.

"Yeah it's me, 'Assy Bitch'" the intruder said, deliberately mistaking Yaya's nickname.

"How come you're at school? I'd hoped you'd gone and died when you didn't show up for a while, Hoshina."

The intruder, a girl called Utau, looked at the girls assembled, all of whom were wearing their cheerleading uniform. "You're still into this cheerleading farce?"

"Farce?" Yaya couldn't stop herself asking. She might be smart for a cheerleader but she wasn't the brainiest person in the world.

Utau snorted in amusement. _She_ might have been a blonde ex-model singer, but she actually had brains and enough attitude to have satisfied Yaya. She didn't have sass so much as confidence, a hint of arrogance and a rebellious, almost dangerous aura. Utau always wanted to win, regarding everything as a competition. If anybody treated her like she was stupid just because she was blonde or weak because she was a girl, they would soon find themselves in a world of pain. She also never smiled; on occasion, she did smirk or grin bitterly but never ever smiled through genuine enjoyment. Utau was known as the 'Flaming Star'. She was a Junior.

"I wonder how you can be so stupid and have a brother who is considered a genius? He'd probably know what farce meant, even if he's only eight years old..." The sound of a sharp slap resounded through the gymnasium.

"My family is none of your business, Hoshina," Yaya hissed.

"How violent," Utau commented, ignoring the fact that she'd done worse to people for less provocation than that.

"Now get out of my gymnasium," the shorter and younger girl ordered, eyes flashing.

Utau turned to look at the exit and turned back to face Yaya. "No," she said simply.

Yaya narrowed her eyes and lowered her voice dangerously. "Get. Out." she commanded through gritted teeth.

"Make. Me." Utau dared, raising an eyebrow.

Yaya, pushed past her limit and not willing to back down for _anything_, shoved Utau hard and with the strength of a true gymnast. She managed to push Utau back a pace but was slapped for her trouble. Utau took a step forward. Yaya shoved again, harder. The blonde's hand came down again, only this time her fingers were curved so that her nails would strike the cheek as it did. Yaya felt her gouged cheek and saw the blood on her fingers, jaw dropping in shock. Utau smirked at her small victory.

"Oh, you _bitch_," Yaya screamed, flinging herself at Utau and reaching up to yank one of her ponytails. Utau screamed in rage and reciprocated in kind, yanking Yaya's hair.

Of course, other students started gathering as the word got out that there was a catfight. A catfight was more interesting to watch than a plain fistfight because, in addition to punching and kicking which is what any respectable guy would do in a fight, there was biting, scratching, hair-pulling, attempts at eye-stabbing, and much more screaming. The fact that they were two of the Powers was just an added bonus. But of course the teachers got wind of it soon enough.

"Girls," a sharp voice cut through the noise. Sanjou-sensei stood at the front of the crowd, her glasses flashing in the light. "You are both coming to join me for detention after school."

The two got up slowly, rearranging their clothes so that they looked halfway decent again. Yaya had the scratches on her face as well as some on her arms and a bite-mark near her wrist. Utau had one scratch across her cheek and more over her arms, as well as bruises on her legs from the smaller girl's kicks. She had to admit that Yaya was tougher than she looked.

The crowd dispersed, talking loudly among themselves and exchanging opinions and gossip as they went.

"Practice is over," Sanjou informed the cheerleading team. The girls fled happily, leaving the two to suffer Sanjou's wrath. Unlike Nikaido, Sanjou was strict all the time and never left room for an argument.

"Now you two," she said dangerously, "are in deep trouble."

Both girls just glared back, each one _knowing_ that it was the other's fault. Sanjou sighed and rubbed her temples. Oh dear...

--------

Tadase smiled charmingly at the horde of fans fawning over him, apologizing profusely for not being able to go out with any of them. This just made his fans fall ever deeper in love.

Tadase Hotori, also one of the most popular students in the school, was known as 'Prince'. As well as looking the part, with his neat blonde hair, large eyes and heart-wrenchingly cute face, the Sophomore was always sweet and thoughtful, gentle and poised, never complaining about anything and setting many hearts aflutter before gently letting them down. And yet, he severely disliked every single one of the other most popular people in the school. He treated them with cold dignity and said once in an interview that he had tried his best to be friendly with them before, and found that they were all unreasonable, insufferable, underhanded, self-absorbed and spoiled rotten. He was known for his modesty, generosity and sympathy, and of course couldn't abide such abhorrent traits in somebody else.

"I'm sorry, Yamabuki-chan, but I already like someone else," Tadase said, deep red eyes wide with earnesty. Saaya Yamabuki sniffed in disappointment, hearts still in her eyes. Tadase was just so responsible and understanding. He never got visibly annoyed with the amount of girls vying for his attention, even though he'd stated before that he didn't have much time for social responsibilities and such because of familial issues.

"That's alright, Tadase-kun!" she breathed, still in shock that he'd added _-chan_ to her name.

"My, my, we can never go a day without having _some_ kind of hold-up due to the Kiddy-King and his screaming girls," somebody commented. Tadase looked up to see the one person he hated most in the school.

"Ikuto Tsukiyomi," he said in a flat tone of voice. His eyes narrowed in distaste.

"Kiddy King," Ikuto acknowledged lazily, a smirk playing about his mouth. There was a chorus of sighs, some even coming from the group of Tadase's fan-girls. They quickly quietened when their fellow Tadase-worshippers glared at them.

Ikuto Tsukiyomi was an enigma. Some days, like this one, he would be playful and teasing, too lazy to be bothered by anything. On days like this, his fangirls could come close and shriek over him, and he would send them a little smirk every once in a while, although he never really showed any interest in them. On other days, he would be sullen and perpetually sending off a bad vibe and although Ikuto would never take his bad mood out on any of his fans, they still stayed away. He would often skip classes or take a nap during the time he was supposed to be working and also got into fights very often, both in school and out. He was the bad-boy Senior of the school who didn't seem to care what anybody thought of him or told him to do. Therefore the school deemed him the 'Stray Cat'.

"Who are you to tell me when and where I can speak to these lovely ladies?" the blonde asked, raising an eyebrow. His words caused much swooning and dreamy sighing.

"I was just commenting that nobody can go to class with your fan club blocking the hallway, Kiddy King," he replied, shrugging nonchalantly.

Tadase's eyes flashed angrily. "It didn't occur to you to go the other way?"

"And this, ladies and... aren't there any guys in this school?" Ikuto said, looking around at all the girls. "Well, whatever. This, ladies, is the guy that says all the rest of us were 'insufferable and spoiled rotten'. I guess hypocrites come in small packages now?" Ikuto looked down at the shorter boy, smirking.

"Just keep walking, Tsukiyomi. I'm not going to fight you," Tadase answered stiffly.

"Fight? Who said anything about fighting? Are you really so bloody-minded all the time, Kiddy King?" Ikuto feigned surprise and disappointment.

Tadase refused to reply or even look Ikuto in his amethyst eyes.

"Oh dear. The one day I do turn up to school on time, and I'm going to be late for class. How's this for sending me mixed messages?" Ikuto said to nobody in particular.

"Just go the other way, Tsukiyomi."

"Why should I if it'll cut off five minutes of wasted time to go through this hallway?"

Tadase opened his mouth to reply, when one of the younger girls tugged on his sleeve. She blushed, a little bit shocked by her own audacity. "Um..." she stuttered.

"Yes?" Tadase encouraged gently.

"We have to go to class, too," she reminded him.

Tadase clenched his jaw. For some reason, he felt that leaving now would mean he was losing to Ikuto, but he really did have to go to class. If he didn't, they would be so disappointed in him...

"Alright," he said regally to his horde of girls. "We have to go now. He isn't worth wasting my time on anyhow." With dignity, he brushed past Ikuto and...

...Fell flat on his face.

Ikuto had conveniently stuck his foot out in such a way that it would trip the younger boy and was now smirking down at him. "Oops. Walk much, Kiddy King?" he taunted, leaning nonchalantly against the wall.

Tadase clenched his jaw, hastily pushing himself off the floor. "I hope you're satisfied by playing child's games, Tsukiyomi," he spat. "I however, will not sink down to your level."

"So publishing an interview like that _wasn't_ just a way to annoy, berate, put-down and attempt to humiliate the rest of us while elevating your own status?" he questioned snidely.

Tadase drew himself up to his full height - which was still almost a head shorter than the older boy's - and narrowed his eyes at him. "That was and still is my purely sincere answers to the questions asked."

"Right. Sure. Because you've got a pure heart and are brimming with kindness and modesty. Totally," he said, sarcasm evident to even the most thick-headed person on the planet.

"Is it so hard to believe that somebody else may have those qualities even though you, Tsukiyomi, obviously don't?" Tadase asked heatedy.

For a moment, Ikuto looked thoughtful. "Hm. Somebody else, I'd believe. You, Kiddy King... not so much. Pretense should be a sin."

"Well, _I_ for one, have a class I've got to go to and don't intend on being late," the blond announced.

"Go on, Kiddy King. Although I_ was_ going to be on time before you and your gaggle of giggling girls came in my way," he commented, shrugging.

Tadase tried, for the second time to walk past him, and for the second time, tripped. this time, however, Ikuto had nothing to do with it; but it wasn't like he was about to believe that. Neither was Ikuto going to try and explain it away.

"How clumsy can you be, Kiddy King?"

"Tsukiyomi..." Tadase growled, steel entering his voice.

"Yes, Kiddy King?"

"You. Are. Dead."

"Funny. You'd think I would be on my way to Hell then. Can't be worse than this place, surely," Ikuto said, perfectly at ease.

Tadase hurled himself off the ground and at the smirking, expectant face of Ikuto...

"Ahem," somebody cleared their throat. Tadase stopped himself mid-lunge, barely managing to escape crashing into Ikuto. The two boys looked down the hall to see a very irritated Nikaido. You could practically see a vein throbbing on his forehead.

"Oh! Um... Nikaido-sensei! Uh... I was just... um... this was..." Tadase panicked, having recovered his senses. Ikuto snickered softly at Tadase's discomfort.

"What? You trying to be macho? I could see that, Hotori-san," Nikaido said sharply.

"I'm sorry. It won't happen again," Tadase promised immediately and contritely.

"Wuss," Ikuto muttered under his breath.

Unfortunately Nikaido heard the comment. "Both of you are in detention for this afternoon. See you then," the teacher said curtly. "I would suggest the two of you go to class now."

Tadase hurried off, leaving Ikuto behind. Ikuto shrugged and walked at a leisurely pace in the direction of his classroom. So much for making it to class on time for once. He probably wouldn't bother for another week or so.

*

Nikaido, fuming after that morning's drama, found his temper pushed to the limit when he turned the corner of a building during lunch, expecting some time alone so that he could have a quick smoke. He only smoked when extremely stressed out, and those times were occurring more and more often, thanks to the 'Eight Powers', as the students dubbed them. Six of them; the 'Sassy Witch', the 'Flaming Star', the 'Wandering Pheonix', the 'Prince', 'the Snake' and the 'Stray Cat', were already in detention.

The reason for the sudden push in temper was because of the sound of _another_ fight occuring within school grounds. He sped up his pace, swearing that if it was one of the Eight again, he would murder somebody.

Fortunately for everybody involved, it wasn't. It was just two ordinary guys. After he broke up the fight and gave them detention, he tapped a random girl on the shoulder.

"Excuse me, miss. Would you mind telling me what the fight was about?" He said, back to friendly-teacher-mode.

"Oh, um, well... I think one of them made a rude comment about Cool and Spicy Hinamori while defending the Ice Princess, and the other guy blew up at him. They first insulted the Powers and then each other, and then one of them threw a punch. Are you okay, Nikaido-sensei?" she asked worriedly, catching his extraordinarily dark expression.

This fight was caused, however indirectly, by two of the Powers. Nikaido breathed in deeply through his nose in an attempt to calm himself down. Something had to be done. The school would soon collapse because of them. He would have a talk with the other teachers.

Things had to change.

~*~

**A/N:** I didn't expect so many positive reviews just from the first half. I hope you guys have all enjoyed this part half as much.


	3. Detention

**A/N:** I've had quite a few people asking me what pairings this story has. Only now have I realized that I never told you. Heh. My bad! ^.^' Well, anyhow, this story is basically Rimahiko, Kutau and Amuto, and I'm still considering the possibility of Yuukari. Well, on with the show!

~*~

**Detention**

That afternoon, Nikaido waited in the room that the detention was being held in. He and Sanjou had decided to supervise it together, because it would take both of them to keep the Powers under control. The other teachers were useless when it came to them. Most of them just looked the other way, and the rest of them had given up. Well, except for one, but nobody paid attention to her anyway.

They had been waiting ten minutes, and so far, only two people have turned up. Neither of them were Powers; they had been the two fighting on Amu and Rima's behalf.

After a further ten minutes, both teachers were about ready to purchase a gun and hunt the Powers down, shooting them in the head one by one.

"They're skipping detention," Nikaido said in disbelief.

"I would have expected this from Tsukiyomi, and probably Souma and Fujisaki too, but I would've thought that Hotori would turn up," Sanjou told him.

"They can't keep _doing_ this. I won't allow it," Nikaido said. All of them were in some of his classes at one point or another. He found that his smoking habits had a direct correlation with their attitude in his class. That's it; their attitude. It needed changing. The fights were all because they couldn't stand each other, right? Well they would just have to learn.

"_You_ won't allow it? That's a laugh," Sanjou commented.

"How so?" Nikaido asked, turning to her.

"They practically have the whole school on their side and all the teachers wrapped around their little fingers," Sanjou sniffed. "We're the only ones left, ever since Amakawa-san had to leave."

"He couldn't help that," Nikaido said, albeit a little bitterly as well.

"Well, the Powers could stage a revolt. With the entire school behind them," she explained.

Nikaido snorted. "Yeah, but only if they can all agree on something for more than a few seconds. They hate each other. It's what's keeping the school in balance. But it's also what'll ruin us."

"Yeah, that damn coward of a principal keeps cutting our budget because of them, doesn't he?" the violet-haired woman crossed her arms, irritated by the mere thought.

Nikaido smiled grimly. "So we need to change things."

Sanjou thoughtfully rearranged her glasses. "Yes, if we want to keep our jobs, that is."

"But how?" he asked.

She paused for a moment before answering. "We need to call in some help. I think we need the Captain in on this one."

Nikaido looked at her. "You just want him to get some credit if we succeed, don't you?"

"Is there something wrong with that?" she snapped.

"Well, he'll probably help... a bit..." he said, hesitantly.

"Every bit counts. These high-schoolers will kill us soon. You're smoking a pack of cigarettes a day as it is. Imagine if this goes on?"

"Hey, not an entire packet!" he defended himself quickly. At Sanjou's glare, he shut up.

"But we have a problem..." she admitted.

"Hm?"

"If they won't even come to detention or follow orders... how are we going to do this?"

"That's a good question, Yukari-san, that's a good question," he nodded. Sanjou blushed and hit him on the head with a nearby notebook.

"It's Sanjou to you!"

"Yes yes, of course."

"But how are we going to go about setting them straight?" she asked, exasperated.

Nikaido sighed. "I think we're going to have to take them out of regular classes for this," he warned.

"Which means we have to have the full cooperation of the other teachers." Sanjou tapped her fingers against the table.

"And Tsukiyomi isn't at school half the time in any case."

"They're _all_ always getting into fights. Except Mashiro; she gets the other students to do that for her, which makes the fans of the other Powers reciprocate in kind..."

"The other teachers will never agree to it," Nikaido said sadly.

"They have to," said Sanjou, eyes flashing.

"Why?"

"If they don't, they're going to have a war on their hands; one that the police won't interfere with."

Nikaido sweat-dropped. "Isn't calling this a war going a little too far?"

"No." Another glare sent his way made Nikaido suddenly feel a lot more agreeable.

"Yes, of course. Not too far," he said hastily. Well, if anybody could do this, it would be Sanjou.

"We need... a meeting," she said ominously.

"What? No! Can't we do this some other way?" he pleaded.

"How else do you expect to get this done?"

"Well... fine," he said, dejected. "But you're calling it."

"Coward."

-------

The principal of the school, a rather overweight man with large bags underneath his piggy eyes, a moustache that he thought made him look sophisticated but in fact looked like the result of haphazardous shaving, scowled at them. He wasn't pleased that a meeting had been called that wasn't his idea, especially since it meant he would have to stay even longer at the school than was absolutely necessary.

"Sanjou-san," he said gruffly, folding his thick fingers over his pronounced stomach. "What is the reason for this sudden meeting?"

The woman adjusted her glasses in a businesslike fashion. She'd always wanted to be a businesswoman, even in her childhood. They had always seemed so glamorous, composed and proper. She dressed and acted like one even now, although the highest success that she could hope to achieve in a school would be teaching a student that pi was, in fact, not edible.

"It's about the Powers, sir," she stated quietly. Every occupant in the room stirred uncomfortably.

His nostrils flared. "Sanjou-san, I expect my teachers not to bow their heads to the students' desire of giving everyone and everything some kind of ridiculous nickname. They are not special. 'Powers'!" he sneered derisively.

Sanjou stiffened, obviously offended by his last comment. "Then what am I supposed to call them, sir?" she asked tersely.

He waved airily at her. "That does not matter. What matters is what you wish to say about those blasted students."

"Well," she started again.

"Today, please. Everybody would like to go home and rest after this inconvenient meeting, Sanjou-san," he interrupted. The woman forced a smile so that she wouldn't slap him. After all, she liked to think that she had better control than the students she would be complaining about.

"I really think that it's useless to just turn a blind eye to their activities and fights, and all the trouble that they're stirring..."

"Trouble?" he narrowed his eyes.

She breathed in deeply, composing herself. "Yes, trouble. For example-"

"What kind of trouble?" demanded the principal, interrupting the answer.

"They've been causing fights to erupt all over the school. The students are beyond control; every eighth of the school despises the other seven-eighths. There's not a single class in which the students don't have an argument and disrupt their education..."

"Arguments? About what?"

Sanjou refrained from looking at him as though he were an idiot. Barely. "About the Po... the students we were discussing, sir."

He sat back, frowning deeply. "Well? Go on. Hurry up. My grandmother could talk faster than you, which is saying something seeing as she's dead," he chortled slightly at his own joke.

"As you say, sir," Sanjou said politely, fantasizing about taking a chair and hitting him repeatedly over the head with it. "Recently, we - that is, Nikaido-sensei and I - had placed all the... aforementioned students in detention, the exceptions being the Ice Q... Rima Mashiro and Amu Hinamori. They-"

"Why?" he questioned, giving her what he thought was a speculative look. Sanjou just thought that he looked rather ill.

"Because they had all broken into or indirectly caused physical fights to break out," was the tired response.

"And?"

"I... We think that this has gone on for far too long and is compromising whatever integrity was left of our school."

"We?"

"Nikaido-sensei agrees as well, don't you?" She discreetly stomped on his foot. He managed to hold back a hiss of pain and keep smiling, although it was rather pained now.

"Of course. Too long. Compromising integrity. Yes," he nodded, fervently hoping that she would refrain from further violence.

"Well what do you want us to do?" the principal asked Sanjou, completely ignoring her partner.

"Well, since the problems and fights breaking out revolve around the fact that they hate each other-"

"Yes, we know that. So what?" he asked grumpily.

"We thought that we should take them out of normal classes-"

"Why would we do that?"

A vein throbbed alarmingly in her temple. "Because they wouldn't do any work and just encourage disputes when they are supposed to be studying."

"Why don't you just keep them back?"

"Well you _see_, when we put them on detention, they just don't bother turning up," said Sanjou, crossing her arms so that she wouldn't give into the temptation of wrapping her slim fingers around the principal's thick throat. "Hell, Tsukiyomi doesn't bother turning up to _school_ half the time."

"Then how will you get them to go with you during class?" For once, this was actually a sensible question.

"We'll threaten to phone their parents or to suspend them." Sanjou rubbed her temples. "That should work for some of them, at any rate."

"What are you going to do with the children once you've got them?" This time it was a new voice that had piped up. It belonged to a rather old woman who looked to be about fifty and had been claiming she was thirty-four for years. None of the students and very few of the teachers actually took her seriously, with her odd ways and looks. She was more obese than the principal, loose flaps of skin hanging everywhere, the reading glasses perched on her small nose making her eyes look even beadier than usual and her mop of dark hair cut short. Deep red lipstick and heavy makeup completed the look of, well, a rather ridiculous woman. She was supposed to be Saeki-sensei, but her students just called her by her first name; Nobuko.

Nobuko was the only other teacher that didn't just ignore anything related to the Powers or deem it as too bothersome. Another thing was that although the students ridiculed her on a daily basis, she actually cared about them and their futures.

"We'll try to teach them camaraderie or something of that sort," said Nikaido, doubtfully.

"We, and the School Captain, will be giving them lessons on friendship and perhaps hire a counselor or two to sort out any issues we may have," Sanjou said, stomping on Nikaido's foot with the heel of her shoe.

"The School Captain?" The principal frowned, rubbing his chin in what he thought was a thoughtful way. It just made him look rather constipated. "Why him?"

"Because," Sanjou said slowly, making sure her temper was in check, "he has the support of many of the students, even the ones in the Po... the fan clubs for his ability to actually get things done and act without prejudice. Besides, he's their age with the difference of being responsible."

"Are you saying that you can't handle a group of teenagers yourself, and want to employ another teenager to help?" he sneered.

"It'll make it easier..."

"If your plan doesn't work, you'd have accomplished nothing except helping them to skip classes without ramification!" roared the man, slamming a fist on the table. Having known this would happen and making sure her anger was reined in and stored someplace safer, Sanjou stood her ground unflinchingly.

Nikaido on the other hand, hadn't been paying any attention to the conversation and had been bowled off his feet by the sudden rise in volume. He sat up, glasses askew and shaking his head to clear it of any dizziness.

Sanjou ignored him. "Look, sir, just give us a chance," she said, leaning forward and bracing her hands against the table. "Give us a few weeks or something and if there is no improvement, you can have them back terrorizing the students, teachers and public if you wish."

The teachers looked at each other. To have the Powers taken out of their classes would be a blessing, even if it was only for a few weeks. Any class with one of them in it as a fellow student wouldn't concentrate, throwing them either admiring or hateful looks. Any class with two or more in it at a time was a disaster.

Nobuko spoke up for the teachers, even though they looked at her in distaste when she did. "We support this plan, especially since the Powers-"

Sanjou coughed loudly, eyeing the principal's reddening face.

"... the, uh, troublesome students...?" Nobuko glanced at Sanjou and, seeing her approving nod, continued. "Especially since the troublesome students don't do any work in class when they are there. Except Hotori-kun, but none of the other students concentrate with him around," finished the lady.

"Hotori-_kun_, sensei?" Nikaido asked, grinning. She blushed but refused to answer.

The principal scowled. "Fine," he said shortly. "You have three weeks to make a noticeable improvement. Good luck, you'll need it." The last part was said sulkily, in the tone of a five-year-old who had to share his food because his mother had demanded it of him.

"Thank you, sir," Sanjou said contritely, even though she was secretly fantasizing about ways to kill the man in a satisfying manner.

There was the scraping of lots of chairs being pushed back and the speedy departure of a horde of teachers. Sanjou dragged Nikaido semi-upright and out of the room, using her other hand to take out her phone and dial a number.

"Who are you calling?" asked Nikaido while he was trying not to fall over again at the speed they were going.

"The Captain," she said.

"Why?"

"To tell him about our newest project."

Nikaido stared at Sanjou for a long moment before bursting out into laughter. "You hadn't told him before you volunteered him to the principal?" he chuckled.

Behind her glasses, Sanjou's eyes gleamed. "This way, he can't refuse."

Nikaido stopped laughing. "Sanjou-san?"

"Yes?"

"You're scary."

He regretted those words the moment she fixed him with a powerful glare. "Say that again," she threatened.

Sweat broke out on his forehead. "Uh... you're a strong, independently minded young woman who should be admired greatly by poor, pathetic men like me?" he hazarded.

"That's what I thought you said."

~*~

**A/N:** If you have any questions, feel free to ask. Um... I think the Powers will appear in the next chapter, and the fairly obvious identity (just use the method of elimination of possible characters) of the School Captain will be not-so-dramatically revealed. Stay tuned!


	4. Out Of Class

**A/N:** Um... I think I'd forgotten to reply to some of you guys, so sorry... I'm going to start keeping a list of people I've replied to so I don't miss anybody. If I have, I'm sincerely sorry and thank you so much for your reviews and opinions.

~*~

**Out Of Class**

The teacher was almost in hysterics. She had first the first period of the day for Sophomores, and in her class were four, count them; _four_ of the Eight Powers. That was half. And she had to tell them about the new... development. As if normal classes with them weren't bad enough.

She was hiding in a janitor's closet. It wasn't exactly very dignified, but she couldn't let her other students see her like this. Again. The very first time she had tried to control the Powers, she had been humiliated, pushed into hyperventilation, broken a heel and had her underwear shown to the entire class. What was worse was the fact that the Powers didn't even do all this; their fans had rioted then and there while three of them just sat back and watched. The only one that didn't sit there and yawn during the entire episode was Tadase, who was busy helping a girl to her feet and adding a new 'number one fan' to his club. Boy, did the teacher learn her lesson; do not mess with the Powers. But here she was, being forced to bring them some very, _very_ ugly news.

Taking a deep breath, she slowly opened the door and stepped outside, nervously straightening her skirt.

"Miss," a cheerful voice came from behind her, causing her to whirl around in alarm. It was one of those dreaded students. Not least, it was the Snake.

"F-Fujisaki-san!" she exclaimed, desperately searching for an escape route.

Nagihiko's eyes narrowed fractionally. "Yes, I know that is my name. Thank you for pointing it out to me," he said.

Finding no escape route, she settled for merely avoiding his eyes. "Um... shouldn't... shouldn't you be in class?" she asked timorously, patting invisible dust off her skirt to give her hands something to do.

"Shouldn't you, miss?" With that, Nagihiko left her whimpering outside the closet.

When the teacher entered the classroom, she ignored the chaos of her students and sank slowly into her chair, taking the moment to compose herself.

Amu was at the far right of the room towards the back, too busy staring out the window to notice how the teacher was looking at all the Powers with fear. There were new rumours that day, she noted, including her alleged model of a boyfriend, famous photographer and magazine writer for parents and whether her hair colour was natural or dyed. She rolled her eyes at the ridiculousness of it all.

The Ice Queen sat in the middle row to the left of the room, drinking some water while having a hand manicured by one of her doting fans. She didn't notice the teacher's regard, either, concentrating on avoiding eye-contact with any of her fans in case a fight broke out. They were all so simple minded and vapid. It was idiotic, how the thing they cared most about in the world was her comfort.

Tadase had chosen a seat in the front row, nearer to the windows. He did notice the teacher's increased anxiety but felt he had no place to ask what it was about. He, too, caused a multitude of students to be out of their seats and milling around him although he protested weakly that they should be in their seats. Since the rest of the class was in disorder, why couldn't they be too, they argued. It wasn't like they could learn anything with the ruckus and noise levels as they were.

Eyes still narrrowed and smile in place, Nagihiko watched the woman with a strange feeling of trepidation. There was going to be some bad news. His fans were giggling and asking him questions, oblivious to the fact that they were all ignored or unanswered. With a sigh, he leaned against the wall. It was one of the benefits of sitting in the far back, left-hand corner.

The teacher stood up, having finally decided that it would be best just to get it over and done with. She cleared her throat, trying to mimic the way she'd heard Nikaido do before. It didn't work. In fact, she had a sneaking suspicion that the noise level just rose a few decibels.

"Um..." she called out with a trembling voice. They all ignored her. All except Tadase and Nagihiko. "Uh... could... um... the... uh..." She winced, hating how weak and helpless she sounded. "Could the Powerscomedowntothefrontplease," she said quickly, half hoping that they wouldn't notice her voice. Therefore, she expected it when everybody in the front half of the class turned to face her in shock. Where the Powers were concerned, she had the worst luck ever.

Tadase blinked puzzledly for a few moments before rising up and walking to the front. The silence spread slowly until all eyes were fixed intently on the teacher, wondering what she would be doing. Amu, finally noticing the lack of screams, yells, whispers and gossip, looked at everybody and to the front where Tadase stood obediently. Then whispers erupted from behind her and she heard about the teacher's instruction for the Powers to go up to the front. Sighing and mumbling a "Whatever", she pushed herself up and hefted her bag onto her shoulder before making the long journey past rows of eagerly watching faces.

The teacher let out a small breath of relief. Two of the four were already down there without much trouble. It was more than she'd expected.

After a moment's pause, Nagihiko and Rima consented to getting up and actually walking to the front of the classroom.

"Um... come with me outside?" It had meant to be an order but ended up sounding like a question. She really didn't want to tell the Powers in front of the class. It would cause an uproar.

"No." Rima fixed her with a cold glare, causing fanboys to have near heart-attacks.

The teacher took a step back, swallowing. "Uh, well, you see, there's this thing that..." Her courage failed her. "You need to go and see Sanjou-san and Nikaido-san in Room 9 right now," she finished. She was probably going to have to suffer the teachers' wrath this time around, but it was better than trying to deal with an uprising.

Tadase's face took on an earnest look. "Miss, if this is about the detention, I-" he was interrupted by a hard shove from behind.

"Move it; you're getting in my way," Amu told him. "And what detention?"

Rima turned to stare at the rosette. "This is what being in permanent isolation does to you. Have you _not_ heard the stories going around? Apparently everybody was busy yesterday," said Rima. She didn't give any other information.

Although she was insanely curious, Amu just shrugged.

In the background, an argument was brewing. Tadase's fan-girls didn't appreciate the rough way that Cool and Spicy Hinamori was treating their Prince, and Amu's fans didn't approve of the way they were talking about her. When Rima's fanboys saw her wince and raise a hand to her ear in an attempt to block out the sound, they joined the fray. A snide comment by one of Nagihiko's fangirls drew the rest of the classroom into the yelling spree.

The teacher sunk slowly to the ground, tears in her eyes. She was going to quit. If she didn't quit, she would go mad and attack one of the students and throttle them to death. Twenty-five years in jail or a few months of struggling with the bills? It was a tough choice, but she'd take the bills option any day.

"It's noisy in here," Rima stated before daintily walking across the room and through the door.

Tadase ignored the other Powers, focusing his attention on the teacher. He smiled at her and extended a hand to help her up. Both the hand and smile fell, however, when the teacher started wailing and scrambling away from him.

Somebody snorted from beside him. "Nice work, Casanova," Nagihiko commented. The blond shot him a disgusted look and followed the Ice Princess out the door.

As he crossed the threshold, he tripped and, for the third time in two days, fell again.

Rima looked haughtily at him as if she hadn't stuck her foot out on purpose. She pretended to pause thoughtfully. "Isn't this how you acted in front of all your fans, _Prince_?" she ridiculed.

His face flamed as he got up again and he brushed himself off to prevent Rima from seeing the tears in his eyes.

"You're not going to cry, are you?" Rima sighed disgustedly. "Oh great, you are. We have a _crybaby _among us? That's just..." she shook her head, at a loss for words.

Amu finally came out of the classroom and, after a glance at the duo, turned to stroll down the halls towards the designated classroom.

A smiling Nagihiko came out soon after. "They're turning over tables in there. And they're starting to use stationary for ammunition - it's rather fun to watch."

Tadase, a shadow over his eyes, followed Amu's tracks and left them without another word.

The small girl sighed at the prospect of such a long walk without her fans to accompany her before starting her journey. Nagihiko trailed after her at a safe distance.

When they finally arrived to the room, they found Yaya already sitting there chewing bubble-gum and looking at her nails. She had a bandage on her cheek. Her eyes widened and then narrowed as they filed in, moving to the far side of the classroom. Luckily for them, Room 9 was one of the larger classrooms in the school, allowing them to space themselves apart at a distance where they couldn't 'accidentally' plant a fist or palm in each other's face. They could still leap across the room and start actually bashing each other up.

"What're _you_ doing here?" Yaya asked rudely.

"We could ask you the same question," Nagihiko ignored the chairs and seated himself on a table.

Tadase raised his arms in a gesture of surrender. Or it could be defensiveness or peace; it was hard to tell them apart. "Look, I think I'm here because I bailed on detention yesterday, but I had important matters to -"

"What're _you_ doin' here?" Kukai's voice came from the doorway. His hand instinctively went up to the bruise along his jaw as he laid eyes on Nagihiko.

Amu shrugged boredly. "The teacher didn't tell us," she said.

"This _isn't_ about the detention," Rima said when Kukai opened his mouth. "_I_ had no detention to skip, I'll have you know."

Somebody cleared their throat from behind him. He whirled around to come face to face with Utau.

"Move," she ordered, shoving him hard before he had the chance to respond. he glared and sputtered for a few moments. She rolled her eyes. "Look, as interesting as your gibberish is, I actually have something to say. I know what this is about," she announced.

"Yeah? What?" spat Yaya.

The singer gave them all a dark look. "They're going to try and make us be _friends_, apparently."

They all stared at her incredulously. "_What?!_" they yelled in unison.

"And they expect us to magically get along and start skipping together in a field of flowers?" Nagihiko said incredulously.

Utau shrugged. "Who knows? But it ain't gonna work if I can help it."

"'If _you_ can help it'?" Rima echoed. "We don't even need to try. It is, simply, impossible."

Tadase looked horrified, which Kukai noticed. "But of course the _Prince_ wouldn't disobey a teacher's orders, would he?" he said. "So he's gonna have to try and get along with 'unreasonable, insufferable, underhanded, self-absorbed and spoiled rotten' people like us, no?"

Tadase started to regret ever allowing them to print that article. It had intensified the other Powers' hatred of him by a thousand-fold.

"He might cry while doing so," Rima commented. "You know, I think _he_ should be the Princ_ess_ here, not me."

"It might interest you to know that they're coming," Utau said. She was at the doorway and peeking outside.

"Hey, where's the Kitty?" Kukai asked, looking around. "We're a Power short."

"Skipping, probably," Utau muttered.

The brunette shook his head. "Lucky bastard."

-------

"Why do you need me again?" he hissed.

Sanjou sighed. "Because you're the Captain."

"So?"

She shot him a look. "You're the equaliser," she said.

The School Captain was a position of power and responsibility. If any of the Powers had taken the position, giving them power above the others, the entire school including the teachers would riot. There was a balance. If the balance shifted in favour of one, people would not be happy. So the teachers offered them a compromise. They didn't vote for the Powers, instead electing somebody that wasn't in any fanclubs or particularly popular. It was well-known, however, that he was smart and stable and got the job done to the best of his abilities. He was unbiased and wouldn't abuse the power.

Besides that, he was Sanjou's nephew. Being a teacher's relative used to make him a target for bullying before he was elected.

"And?" he asked.

"Kairi," she sighed, "I'd already told the principal you're doing this with us. I'm using my powers as your guardian, your teacher, and a woman to get you to do this."

He studied her for a long moment. "This means that much to you?"

"Yes. My entire career rests on this," she said, barely even exaggerating.

He sighed. "Fine, fine. I'll do it, although I don't know what I could do. I think they'd use my help more efficiently in the meeting about the library..."

Sanjou grabbed his arm and dragged him inside the room.

Nikaido, who had been quietly following them under Sanjou's strict orders not to interfere, rubbed his temples. It was going to be a long three weeks, and this first day was most probably going to be an epic failure. But they had to try.

If at first you don't succeed, try and try again. And again and again and again for three weeks. _Oh man_.

~*~

**A/N:** Before you tell me, I am aware that Yukari is actually Kairi's sister in the manga/anime, but I just felt more comfortable like this. Besides, the age gap would've been quite... large. And yes, next chapter begins the torture of the Powers. Hopefully.


	5. Beginnings

**A/N:** I should warn you now (although it's probably already too late) that this story will continue to be slow for quite a few chapters yet. Personally, I can't wait to post what I have planned for Day 2 of Project 'Force the Powers to Reconcile', but that may take a while. I tend to make things long and rather boring at first. And probably all throughout the story. I just hope that you can stand the snail-pace and keep up with me until the end. Thank you everybody!

**X:** I can't PM you, but I'll just let you know that I'm grateful for your positive and continued reviews. Ikuto'll definitely be in the next one.

~*~

**Beginnings**

"Okay, so here's the deal," Sanjou told them as she walked briskly into the room. Nikaido closed the door behind them. "You are -"

"Look, it's the Captain!" Utau gave him a vicious smirk. "Are you here to watch our newest form of torment?"

Nagihiko smiled at him as well. "Pity you didn't bring popcorn," he lamented.

"Hey, you know that I've got photos of you with your head down the toilet, right?" Kukai sneered, arms crossed.

Utau rolled her eyes. "Cro magnon," she muttered loudly enough for the room to hear.

Yaya, who wasn't sure what that meant exactly but could tell it was an insult, sniffed haughtily. "I wouldn't go around calling people names, Hoshina. You aren't as tough as you act," she said.

"I don't need the Witch to come to my defense," Kukai said through gritted teeth. "If you're gonna do any favours, get the blonde with the great legs back on the squad."

"I wasn't coming to your defense," said Yaya, giving him a disgusted look. "And that blonde couldn't have learned the routine if it had been written on her fake breasts and then shoved in her face."

Rima shot them a cold look. "Shut up; you're too loud."

"That was a mistake, dwarf," Amu commented as Kukai and Yaya fixed her with heated glares. "You don't have your slaves here to protect you now."

Utau placed a hand on her hip. "Can it with the tough act, Hinamori. I bet you haven't done half the things the rumours say you have." It was a declaration of war.

Kukai snorted. "And you have, Flaming-I'm-so-famous-Hoshina?"

Utau didn't even glance at him. "Spare me, Chicken. At least _I_ -"

"_Chicken?!_"

Sanjou had a strong urge to hit one of them - she didn't take well to being interrupted, having to put up with so much of it from the principal. "Hey! Shut up!" she yelled at the Powers. This shocked them sufficiently enough that they really did stop talking. Quite a few of them even stopped breathing for a few seconds.

"I suggest you don't start again," Nikaido advised them, ready to restrain Sanjou should her temper get the better of her. The woman took a deep breath and seemed to collect herself.

"Look," she said, "if you do not follow the instructions issued to you by either me, Nikaido-san or the Captain, we _will_ inform your parents. _Is that clear?_" She looked around the room when she didn't hear any wise-ass remarks. They were all gaping at her in silence.

"You know," said Yaya in wonder, "I don't think any of the teachers had actually tried that one before."

"I think that they think that since we never followed their rules we wouldn't bother with the whole parent thing," Amu added thoughtfully.

Sanjou sighed, adjusting her spectacles. "I know. I asked," she told them. Then she gave a sharp clap, her demeanor becoming crisp and sensible. "Alright, form a circle. _No contact_," she tacked on the last bit as she caught sight of Kukai shoving hard into Nagihiko's shoulder. The red-head was surly after being called 'Chicken'.

The fact that everybody actually did as they were told for once, even if there was a lot of negative attitude and resentful looks, surprised her to no end. They formed a rough circle, using tables and chairs as seats.

After he was seated for several moments, Kukai piped up again. "Why _Chicken?_" he asked, confused.

Utau sent him a look. "Sorry, I wasn't specific enough. Would 'Fried Chicken' be better?"

He returned her look with a blank one.

Rima rolled her eyes. "She's talking about your nickname, moron," she explained. "Pheonix equals bird. Bird equals chicken. A pheonix is reborn from fire or ashes or whatever, which therefore equates to _fried_ chicken."

Kukai glared at the petite blonde. "Who asked you, anyway?" he snarled.

"Um..." Tadase was watching Sanjou's expression worriedly. "You know... Sanjou-san has a very threatening aura right now..."

Nikaido let out a nervous laugh. "Well, we're starting today with why you hate each other so much," he stated in a forcedly cheerful tone. "We're going to talk about first meetings and such. Pretend Tsukiyomi's here."

The Powers took on the usual poses of teenagers everywhere who really, _really_ didn't want to do something and would fight tooth-and-nail not to do it.

"Who wants to go first?" he asked brightly. When nobody volunteered, he pointed at Tadase since he was usually the least troublesome of the bunch. "Hotori-san, what about you? How did you first meet Mashiro-san?"

Tadase stuttered, hating that he was put on the spot. "Well... uh... you see... that was..." After several more painful failed attempts of explanation, Rima rolled her eyes and interrupted.

"I transferred," she informed them in exasperation. "He was class representative. He treated me like I was some brainless doll that couldn't do anything from finding a classroom down the hall to using a door."

"I was trying to be helpful!" protested Tadase heatedly.

She gave him one of her patented icy glares. "You were _irritating_, trying to be oh-so nice and generous and flawless and thoughtful and so sickeningly _cute_." If Rima wasn't as poised and dignified, she would have spat.

Tadase's face flushed with anger. "And you were so much better, Mashiro-san?" he demanded. "You came in acting like you owned the world and would scorn everybody who even looked at you. You are so _fake_. Superficial. There's more to life than having some poor boy bring you _tea_, you know."

"Really? Oh, you mean getting my hair done. _Nothing_ is more important than my hair, you know," Rima said seriously, her expression remaining neutral.

Sanjou hurriedly broke in at this point, unsure whether the girl was serious or joking. "Look, what happened after?"

"After?" Tadase blinked.

"After she decided you were annoying," sighed Sanjou.

Rima shrugged delicately. "I merely told him how I felt. It wasn't my fault that the class agreed," she said.

"The _male_ portion!"

"Sickeningly sweet _and_ sexist at the same time. Well done," she replied coolly.

"It wasn't my fault that the girls retaliated by shoving you into the lake, okay?" blurted the boy.

Utau snorted. "Shoving you into the lake? I'd have liked to see that," she commented.

Rima started to examine the ceiling out of boredom. "And it's not mine that the boys managed to get a photo of you as a three-year-old running naked under sprinklers and posting them over the school."

Yaya let out a laugh. "I remember that! The whole school kept talking about that for three whole months before it got old!"

Utau's expression lightened as she recalled that particular event as well. "So _you_ were the round pink ball with a blonde wig. You weren't just chubby; you were a morbidly obese baby."

Tadase scowled, his face so red it almost looked purple.

Although he didn't mention it, Kairi had transferred to Seiyo a month after those pictures had gotten out. He never saw the actual images themselves but had heard enough about it to last him a lifetime. To his right, Sanjou was shaking her head in amazement. She was obviously wondering exactly how much out-of-control history the Powers actually had before this.

Nikaido cleared his throat, effectively able to silence the classroom. He decided to go onto a completely different couple to give the two a chance to calm down. "Okay, so... Hoshina-san, how did you meet, um, Fujisaki-san?" he asked desperately, picking a random two.

There was a moment's pause before Utau decided to answer instead of letting him twist the story to his favour. "He was at one of my concerts."

Nagihiko smiled fondly at the memory. "It sucked big-time. Too ostentatious. It was so completely try-hard with the special effects and techno sounds and flashing lights," he said tranquilly.

Utau's lip curled. "He came up to me after the show and said that it was a failure and that I was trying to 'overcompensate for my lack of singing ability through the use of garish instrumentals and distractive lighting'," she quoted.

"It's not my fault you can't take criticism," said Nagihiko, shrugging.

"It's not my fault that my hand hand just suddenly connected to your face in a painful manner," she said.

"Actually that was because you couldn't control your anger issues. Face it Hoshina; you've got problems." He smiled ecouragingly at the older girl.

"No, it's because _you_ are a tone-deaf, purple-haired _freak_ with a death wish," she retorted.

Sanjou slammed her hand down onto the table, making everybody jump. "Next up; Hinamori-san and Souma-san," she announced sarcastically as if she were introducing a comedy act. The woman even slow-clapped.

"Well?" prompted Nikaido when neither of the duo started speaking. "How did you to meet?"

Amu rolled her eyes. "How do you think?"

"I hit on her," he admitted. "In front of the whole school."

"I knew you were an idiot, but even I couldn't have guessed you were _this_ much of one," said an amused Nagihiko.

Utau shook her head. "I think that it's a tragedy that I wasn't there at the time. I heard stories," she explained.

"I wasn't there either," said Yaya, disappointed.

"What happened?" Sanjou asked, intrigued despite herself. This was like watching some kind of high school drama.

"According to the stories..." Utau started, but Kairi interrupted.

"Um... I was there," he volunteered. His aunt fixed him with an expectant look and raised eyebrows, basically telling him to get on with it. "She poured soup over his head and then, while he was recovering from shock, hit him on the head with the empty can before walking away."

Utau frowned. "So... no scissors?"

"Scissors?" Sanjou asked. She was ignored.

"Nope." Kairi shook his head.

"No superglue?"

Sanjou looked between the two. "What, were you cutting and pasting something?"

"No bike?"

"Nope."

"Not even the bird cage?" Utau asked hopefully.

"Bird cage?" He hadn't heard that part of the rumour before. The singer sighed in annoyance.

"See? I told you that you probably didn't do half the things that the rumours say you did," said an utterly disappointed Utau.

Amu looked at her. "If you want it that badly, go do it yourself," she told her.

"What do the rumours say she did to me?" asked Kukai grimly. He wanted to know exactly how ruined his reputation had been that fateful day and how weak some people perceived him to be.

Yaya shook her head condescendingly. "You don't wanna know," she said.

"Really? You can read my mind now?" spat Kukai, eyes narrowing.

"How could I?" she said flippantly. "There's no mind to read."

"Why you..."

"We have a swear jar!" Sanjou interrupted. They turned to look at her as if she'd gone mad. Although her face did turn slightly pink, she refused to back down. "If you swear, you have to either add in money or, if you don't have any on you, you become the newest addition to the school's team of janitors. They could use the help," she added. The image of the Powers mopping floors cheered her up immensely.

The Powers turned pale. Nagihiko, his smile just a tad puzzled, opened his mouth to ask a question.

"What do you count as swearing?" he asked.

Sanjou furrowed her eyebrows thoughtfully. "Well, there's the female dog word, the easy woman, the word for, um, intimacy..." there were a few snorts at this. "The one for the gluteus maximus," more sniggers, "calling somebody a bastard or other derogative name, got it?" Sanjou glared at them. They just shrugged. "I'll take that as a yes."

"Okay, Yuiki-san," called Nikaido, "just tell us how you met Tsukiyomi-san."

"Well actually, being a Freshman I'd never really ever spoken to him. It's just a kinda basic principal hate thing..." Yaya looked just a tad embarrassed. "I mean, he's a Senior and a Power. He once told me that I was an annoying little bug, but that's basically it. Nothing as dramatic as all your stories... Tsukiyomi, he..." Yaya stopped talking when they heard a knock on the door. It swung open and standing at the doorway as if summoned by the mention of his name, stood Ikuto. He looked at all the Powers, smirking. "Somebody say my name?" he asked casually, hands shoved in pockets and looking like he didn't have a care in the world.

"How nice of you to join us at last, Tsukiyomi-san," said Nikaido drily.

"Of course," he replied. "I couldn't wait to be subjected to whatever horrors you have in store for us, Nikaido-sensei." Obviously, he was in a playful mood. Nikaido thanked whoever was watching over them.

Now all the Powers were present. The plan could commence.

~*~

**A/N:** I apologize again for how slow the story really is. I know that a lot of other stories would already have the romance starting at this point... but I'm focusing more on the characters as individuals. Don't worry, you'll get your pairings later on. Much later on, probably.


	6. Truths and Lies

**A/N:** Thank you everybody who reviewed and said that they appreciate a slow story, and even to those who wished for me to hurry up and get to the pairings. I don't really have much to say today (surprise, surprise!) apart from the fact that for the next few weeks or even months, I'll be using an old laptop that had once had orange juice spilt on the keys. It still works, it's just annoying to type with. Especially the right Shift key... but nobody care's about that. :)

**X:** I dunno. Depends on my mood, mostly. I'll see what I can do.

~*~

**Truths and Lies**

Ikuto looked at all the Powers arranged in a circle and semi-behaving with confusion. He'd have expected several fights to have broken out already but - if the neat and tidy state of the classroom was any indication - that had not happened. Evidently he had missed something during his time away from school in the morning. He raised a questioning eyebrow at their behaviour.

Nikaido, noticing this, hurried to explain. "We threatened to tell your parents if you misbehave in any way,' he said.

"It actually _worked?_" Ikuto snickered in disbelief.

"Shut up, Kitty," snarled Kukai.

"That's Kitty-_senpai_ to you, Birdie," he replied easily. "I'm above you in both the food chain and in class."

Rima sighed. "Actually, we already decided that he is, in fact, _Fried Chicken_," she informed him.

"Hey, Princess, you still afraid of cats?" he asked casually. Rima's normally apathetic expression turned dark.

"Afraid of cats?" Yaya echoed. "The _Ice Princess_ is afraid of furballs? _Why_ did I never hear about this?" she wondered aloud.

"And how did _you_ of all people know about it?" Tadase added, glaring at Ikuto.

"_Okay_," Nikaido interrupted. "Now that we're all here, we should start off by playing a game!" Exactly nine pairs of eyes glowered in the direction of his serene face.

"Why do _you_ look so angry about this, Captain?" asked Utau, having noticed who the ninth pair of eyes belonged to.

"I was not informed that we would be indulging in such childish and degrading behaviour such as _playing a game_," he said, eyebrow twitching.

"Well, since the Powers insist on acting like unruly children," Sanjou said in a matter-of-fact tone, "we thought we would sink down to their level."

Tadase let out a shaky laugh. "Um, I don't really believe that the statement includes me…"

"Of course it does, Hotori," Nagihiko said comfortingly. "You cry when pushed or tripped, declare yourself better than others and I hear you recently almost hit somebody just because they annoyed you." He smiled at his fellow classmate. "That's a definite no-no to being responsible and grown-up."

Amu rolled her eyes while Tadase's face reddened with anger. "Look," she said. "Can we just get this over with?"

"Yeah, what kinda 'game'," Yaya used her fingers to indicate quotation marks, "do you want us to play?"

Nikaido beamed at them, counteracting Sanjou's death-glare. "It's a simple game," he started to explain cheerfully.

"Oh good," Utau smirked. "No need for the Witch to strain her pitifully inadequate mind, then."

"Or the Fried Chicken," noted Ikuto.

"Basically," Nikaido continued as if there had been no interruptions, "we go around the circle and make one statement about ourselves and everybody has to guess whether that statement was true or false. It can't be about something the others already know, and you have to be specific."

Nagihiko nodded. "You're joining in too, aren't you?" he asked viciously. "It wouldn't be fair otherwise."

"Yeah, cause then you'd be like perverts," Ikuto added.

Sanjou spluttered. "What?"

"Tsukiyomi!" Tadase narrowed his eyes. "That is inappropriate to say the least…"

"But he's actually right, in a way," Utau glared at the blond boy. "It's peeping into our lives."

"Only if you're stupid enough to reveal some big secret in front of them, Hoshina," Rima contradicted her.

"Battle of the blondes," commented Kukai before he could stop himself. All three of them sent him ferocious looks.

"Alright!" Nikaido yelled in an attempt to stop catastrophe from occurring. "We'll join in!" At his sudden decision, Sanjou almost kicked him but refrained from doing so in front of the Powers. That would be setting a bad example. Nikaido, who had reading her expression down to an art form, gulped. Later, there would be punishment.

"In that case; Captain, you start first," Sanjou ordered. This way, she would be last. Kairi stared at his aunt before clearing his throat, very irritated.

"Um… I have owned more than twenty-two pairs of spectacles?" He looked at Nikaido to see if this was the right kind of question and he nodded.

"False," said everybody except Kukai who called out a "True".

Kairi glared at Kukai. "It's true," he admitted, "thanks to _someone_ and their gang." The sports jock rolled his eyes in retaliation. Back when he was being bullied, his glasses were always broken one way or another and he was forced to buy a new pair almost every other week.

Amu was sitting on a desk next to the Captain. "Me?" she asked when everybody looked at her. At their less-than-impressed looks, she shrugged. "I… have saved somebody from drowning before,' she said.

"False," was the unanimous answer.

She shrugged again. "You're right, it's false."

Utau was sitting in a chair with her legs crossed at the knee in a ladylike fashion. Being the next in line, she sighed. "Um… I have five stalkers; four of which are male," she said serenely.

Since she was rather famous, everybody except Ikuto said "True".

She snorted. "Actually, I have seven stalkers. But it is true that only four of them are guys," said Utau thoughtfully before announcing; "Fried Chicken's turn."

Lounging on another table was Kukai. "I am _not_ 'Fried Chicken'!" he protested.

"False" was the immediate and synchronized response. His face flamed in anger and he was about to open his mouth to argue before Tadase stepped in.

"I have broken my right arm before."

Amu was the only one who thought it was "True" while everybody else chorused "false".

"Actually, it's true," he said, smiling. Everybody just ignored him.

Yaya, sitting in her chair and still chewing bubble-gum, furrowed her eyebrows in thought.

"If you keep doing that, you'll get wrinkles," observed Rima.

Yaya shot her a furious glare. "Whatever. I have a younger brother," she said.

Almost everybody said "False", but Utau just smirked and said "True".

"It's true," Yaya sighed.

"I feel sorry for the younger brother," Nagihiko remarked. "He must be so tired of having you for a sister."

Nobody except Utau was prepared for Yaya's reaction. She launched herself out of her chair and at Nagihiko, who was sitting next to her. Luckily for him, his reflexes were as fast as ever and he managed to grab her wrists before she could do much harm. The Snake was so surprised that his smile even slipped for a fraction of a second.

"Take that back," she hissed.

He raised an eyebrow. "Okay, I take it back," he said bemusedly. Yaya, satisfied, relented and primly sat down again.

"Your turn, Sn… Nagihiko-san," Nikaido corrected himself.

Nagihiko sat back and smiled at the thought of all the rumours circulating around him. "I know how to use a gun," he said.

Yaya, Tadase, Amu, Kairi, Kukai and the teachers put forward a cautious "True" which made the rest of the group snort in amusement.

"There is no way you can use a gun," Utau scoffed.

"The Star is correct! Congratulations," he proclaimed.

Kukai gaped. "So you… aren't in a gang?"

"Obviously not, Chicken," said Rima, shaking her head.

"Tsukiyomi?" Sanjou prompted.

He looked at them all and took a deep breath as if he was about to reveal something vitally important. "Okay, I don't really know how to say it…" he said. "Once you know, you have to promise not to tell anybody else in the school."

They just gestured for him to go on.

"Okay," he said, closing his eyes for a few moments. "I'm pregnant."

Although Kukai tried his best not to, he couldn't help but laugh.

"I guess this means that there's something your fangirls don't know about you, huh?" Nagihiko remarked.

"Very funny," said Amu wryly. "And so very juvenile."

"True! True!" Kukai yelled.

Nikaido was trying to look serious as Sanjou's disapproving gaze was locked on him. "Okay, Mashiro-san! Your turn!" he declared.

Rima was twirling a lock of her hair. "I'm parched," she told them. "I can barely talk."

"Whatever, dwarf. You seem to be doing just fine," Amu grumbled, crossing her arms. "We're not like your little puppy-dogs. We're not going to go fetch just because you throw a bone at us."

"Tsukiyomi might if you throw a ball of string at him, though," stated Nagihiko.

Ikuto looked at him. "Meow."

"Just say some damn statement already, Mashiro…-san!" Sanjou exclaimed, barely remembering to attach the suffix to the end of the name.

"Does 'damn' count as a swear word?" asked Yaya, blowing a gum-bubble at her.

"No, it doesn't," Nikaido said hurriedly.

"Mashiro-san…?" There was an edge to Sanjou's voice.

The Ice Princess sighed. "My parents are filthy rich," she said.

"True." It was, once again, unanimous.

"You've got me all figured out," she answered sardonically.

"Well, I think we should move on…" Sanjou clapped her hands again.

"What about you guys?" Kukai said quickly.

"Yeah," Kairi added, actually agreeing with his once-tormentor, "what about you two."

Sanjou waved a hand at him airily. "Oh, we're not that important. Next activity!" she said in a madly jolly voice.

"So you really are mind-perverts," Ikuto heaved a disappointed sigh. "I'd expected more from you."

"If they're perverts, then you're an exhibitionist, Tsukiyomi," Rima disagreed.

"His fans would just_ love_ that," sneered Kukai.

"Come on, guys," Tadase said weakly. "If the teachers don't want to do it, then who are we to stop them?"

"Who are _we_ to stop _them_?" sniffed Utau. "The question should be 'Who are _they_ to stop _us_?"

"Shut your traps, sit up and listen to me," Sanjou commanded, standing up and placing her hands on her hips. They did shut up and were somewhat listening, but nobody straightened from their slouching positions. That was asking way too much of them. "Tomorrow, I want you back here _on time_, got it?"

Yaya perked up. "Oh, does this mean you're letting us go?" she said. Talk of the next day usually meant that this one was over.

"No," she snapped, crushing her hopes. "Our next activity is for you to split into pairs and ask and answer the questions on the sheet," said Sanjou. "Maybe you'll find that you have more in common than you thought."

"Not likely," Utau muttered, merely raising a defiant eyebrow when Sanjou fixed her with an angry look.

"Okay… Mashiro-san with Tsukiyomi-san," began Nikaido, reading from a list, "Hotori-san and Fujisaki-san, Hinamori-san and Hoshina-san and last but not least, Souma-san and Yuiki-san. Get started."

They gawked at him before giving their chosen partners a death-glare. In their glares was a solid promise: there will be blood, and it won't be mine.

-------

Sanjou breathed a sigh of relief, collapsing into the chair at the teachers' desk for a much-needed break. All the Powers had been sent to their own little designated area of the class so that they could try to quietly kill each other and leave her in peace.

There was a furtive knock on the door. Sanjou, not wanting to get out of her seat just yet, glanced down at the floor next to her where Nikaido sat with a sour expression on his face.

"Nikaido, be a dear and get that door for me," she trilled.

For a moment, he thought about objecting but soon decided that it was a lost cause. With a groan, he hauled himself up and opened the door to reveal Nobuko standing on the other side. She gestured in a secretive manner for Sanjou and Nikaido to go out of the classroom so that they could talk. Sanjou's mouth tightened as she reluctantly followed the other teacher out of the room.

Once she had closed the door behind her, Nobuko fixed her with a look that could only be called intense. "Here," she whispered, handing over a very thick envelope. Sanjou took it, confusion plainly written across her face. "Open it," the older woman urged.

She did, to be greeted by a fantastic amount of hundred-dollar bills. Her jaw dropped. "W-w-what? What is this, Nobuko?" she said, staring at the wealth in her hands.

"It's funding for your newest project," Nobuko explained.

"But… but… where's the money from?" Sanjou couldn't stop staring at it. She was sure that she held more than her annual salary _before taxes_ in her hands.

Nobuko tapped her nose. "Well, I used to be a rather well-known figure on television, you see. The royalties had been stupendous."

She finally tore her eyes away from the bursting envelope. "But if you have so much money, then what are you doing _teaching_?" she asked in a horrified tone.

Nobuko gave her a sharp look. "Because children are the future," she announced primly.

"Then _hire_ people to teach!"

"Ah, Yukari," she sighed, "there are so very few people left who truly _care_ about a child's education and life. That reminds me; did you know that five of the Powers are transfer students?"

"Really? Who?" Sanjou asked. She'd gathered that Rima was, and she knew that her own nephew had transferred during elementary, but had no idea that so many of them had.

"Tsukiyomi, Fujisaki, Hinamori, Mashiro and Souma."

"Why're you telling me this?" Sanjou frowned.

"I just thought it would be wise to see how the transfers acted at their old schools," said Nobuko innocently. Sanjou stared at her. "Why does Nagihiko smile so much, Yukari?"

Sanjou blinked. "Because he's a very… happy… person…?" she hazarded, not believing the words coming out of her mouth.

"It's just a suggestion," Nobuko said soothingly.

Sanjou glanced back down at the cash again. "About the money… is there a catch?" she said suspiciously.

Nobuko smiled widely at her. "As a matter of fact, I have another small suggestion for what you can make them do tomorrow. It'll be expensive, but since you're using my money, that's no obstacle…"

"What?" she asked, curious.

Nobuko's eyes gleamed mischievously as she informed them of her request. Sanjou was willing to bet all the cash she had just received from Nobuko that the Powers would take even less kindly to this plan than the one they had just been given.

She couldn't wait to see the looks on their faces.

~*~

**A/N:** I know, I could've just given in and conveniently formed them into their romantic pairs, but... I didn't, so there. :P 'Till next time, enjoy as much as you can without the romantic cheesiness!


	7. Escape

**A/N:** Heh, thank you all for your support, everyone! Oh, and a warning note; after school starts again, the frequency of updates will drop dramatically. i've already mentioned this to several of you, but I can't help but complain.

**HeartsTamago:** You've disabled PMs so... *faints from all the compliments... again* Boy, you sure know how to make an author happy. I'm glad that you like my story so much. (Me? Organised? *breaks down into fits of laughter*) And I directly save it onto a flash drive, since my computer crashes so often and because, as I've said before, I'm using this old laptop... the situation with computers and all isn't the most favourable, so yeah. The only risk now is if I lose the USB...

**X:** Those are questions you'll find out very soon. Maybe next chapter if I feel like it. Depends. And... I don't wanna spoil anything, so I can't answer your questions. If Nadeshiko does appear, it won't be because of a family tradition though. I'm still thinking it through.

~*~

**Escape**

Kukai stared at the table as if the cheap wood held the key to discovering the cure for cancer. It was better than trying to pay attention to Yaya; she was one of the girls that he wouldn't ordinarily touch with a twenty-foot pole and yet there he was, sitting barely a metre away from the cheerleading captain and being forced to be civil with her. Perhaps if he concentrated harder, he could split the desk with his mind…

"Get _over_ it, Chicken," said Yaya, rolling her eyes in exasperation. "Look, just give me some bogus answers to these questions." To prove her point, she shook the piece of paper that they were given before scanning through the actual questions. Her expression soon became incredulous. "What is this?"

Kukai glanced up before sullenly turning his attention to the table again. "Papers?" he snorted.

The Witch scowled at him before smoothing out her face, keeping in mind Rima's comment about wrinkles. "I meant these questions!" she snapped.

"Sure you did," he said in a condescending tone, still staring intently at the table.

Yaya, having had enough, kicked him in the shin. Apart from a momentary hiss of pain and a reluctant rising of the eyes, Kukai didn't seem to be very affected by it. "The questions are ridiculous!" said the girl disdainfully.

Grudgingly, Kukai started to read the sheet for the first time since they'd been given out. Then he furrowed his eyebrows in bewilderment. "Why in the name of…?"

"Told you," said Yaya smugly, barely refraining herself from sticking her tongue out in a childish manner.

"'If you could be reincarnated as an animal of your choice after you die, what would it be and why?'" he read aloud. "Who wrote this thing?"

"Sanjou-sensei did," a voice said from behind him in a creepy tone. Kukai almost jumped out of his skin but managed to hide his shock.

"Captain, what're you prowling around for?" Kukai grinned in a threatening manner. "Do you _really_ want the world to see your underwear? I still have the picture from a couple of years back…"

Kairi paled but didn't back down. "You have to put some answers on that sheet, you know," he warned. At the less-than-friendly gaze he was receiving from both Powers, he quickly made himself scarce.

"That little bug-eyed freak…" Kukai muttered, eyeing the Captain's retreating form.

Yaya kicked back in her seat. "What's got you all worked up?" she asked offhandedly, popping another piece of gum in her mouth. Sanjou had made her spit out the first one before they had gone to their desks. Now she made sure to chew extra loudly to see if she could get a rise out of the famous Pheonix.

He sighed and changed the topic to avoid answering her question. "Just answer that damn question; I'm not going to get myself into trouble after everything we just went through to avoid it," grumbled Kukai.

"The animal question?" asked Yaya, who was stalling for time. The word 'reincarnation' sounded familiar, but she wasn't quite sure what it meant exactly.

"No, some other question," he replied sarcastically.

She narrowed her eyes at him dangerously. "You don't have to get smart with me," she said, trying to keep the whining tone down to a minimal.

"Oh yeah, that's right," Kukai said, over exaggeratingly smacking his forehead. "The little Freshman wouldn't understand me if I did _that_."

"Why don't _you_ answer the question first?" she said irritably.

Kukai seemed to appear thoughtful for a moment before chuckling in amusement. "Ah, I get it! You don't know what the question's asking, do you?" he exclaimed, grinning.

Her eyes widened in surprise. "W-what gave you that idea?" said Yaya, panicking. A part of her was screaming that Kukai had telepathic powers and for her to stay as far away from him as possible.

"It's obvious," Kukai said maliciously, "with you being so dumb. Cheerleaders will _always_ be cheerleaders," he said.

Yaya's cheeks reddened both in anger and in embarrassment. "And you're so much smarter?" she said, covering it up with bravado.

"Yep!" he said. His confident grin would've caused any of his fans to swoon but only served to make Yaya madder.

"Then how come you're failing all your classes," she retorted.

"Alright, fine; since you don't understand the question, I'll answer it first," he announced, easily avoiding the question again. "I'd like to come back as a penguin." Kukai had just picked the most random animal he could think of.

"Oh… okay…?" Yaya nodded as if she understood exactly what he was talking about. Come back? What did he mean by come back? "Uh… why?"

He shrugged. "Who cares?"

Utterly confused, Yaya decided to skip to the next question. "Um… 'If you could wish for anything in the world, what would it be?'"

For a split second, Kukai seemed to stiffen before relaxing again. She wrote it off as her imagination and forgot all about it soon after. "Ah, I dunno," he said. "A new car, a new house, a new school… a new cheerleading captain, new chics…" He grinned, letting the glare she sent him just melt off.

"And I wish that I can get my nails done for free and to be treated like royalty," declared Yaya.

He snorted but decided not to comment on what he felt was an obvious lie. It wasn't like he had any room to talk. "Why can't you just let the old cheerleaders back on the squad?" he complained.

"I already told you why," said Yaya.

Kukai shook his head at her naiveté. "Nobody cares how well they dance; we just…"

"Like them because they're easy and jiggle pleasantly," she finished with a sneer.

"True," he confessed unabashedly.

"Pig."

-------

"A red-back spider," said a smirking Utau, "because I heard that the female bites the head of the male off after mating."

"Right," answered Amu, tapping her fingers against their table in aggravation. "I thought that was the praying mantis?"

"That too."

"This is so stupid," Amu commented.

"Thank you for that observation, captain obvious," said Utau spitefully.

"Whatever."

They sat in silence for a while, determinedly ignoring the questions, each other and the rest of the room, only looking up when a movement in their direction caught their eyes.

"What do you want, _Captain_?" Utau asked rudely, her fingers twitching.

"If you don't answer the questions then Sanjou-sensei will…"

"Get lost," said Amu forcefully. With that, the girl turned away, leaving Kairi slack-jawed.

Utau scowled at the other girl. "Listen Hinamori; I don't intend to get myself into trouble over _this,_ okay? So just answer the damn questions already," she ordered.

"Whether you get into trouble or not has nothing to do with me," she said, uninterested.

Utau sneered at her. "So why were you so willing to comply before if you don't care at all about them telling your parents?"

"It's just troublesome," Amu lied. "But if you want to avoid getting your _mommy_ all disappointed in you, then we should move on," she said. Since she was so busy avoiding meeting Utau's gaze, she didn't notice the fury that graced Utau's face for those few moments

"Whatever. So… what would you wish for?" she asked in a forcedly derisive tone while gesturing at the second question.

Amu shrugged. "That people will get outta my way and leave me alone?"

"I'd like nothing better than a dumb, rich and preferably good-looking boyfriend," Utau said shortly. Amu shook her head at the pure self-centredness of the other girl who gave her a scornful look in return. "Next question; 'If you could change one thing about your personality, what would it be?'" Utau read aloud.

Amu's hand, hidden beneath the desk, clenched into a fist. _Everything_. She made sure to keep her tone neutral as she replied "Nothing, really."

"Well I definitely don't need to change," said Utau arrogantly. "I'm fine the way I am."

"Delude yourself somewhere else, Hoshina."

"You first, Miss 'Cool and Spicy' – what a joke," she ridiculed.

Amu didn't even bother retaliating. There was another silence before Amu realized that they were alone. "Where'd the Captain go?" she asked, looking around.

"Who cares?"

Another silence followed.

-------

"I would like to be a dog," Tadase said sincerely, although slightly put off by his partner's attitude.

"_Would_ you now?" Nagihiko said patronizingly. "That's _wonderful_, Prince_._"

Tadase tried his best to keep his cool. "And you, Fujisaki?"

"Do you really have to ask?" he replied. "Then again, we wouldn't want you to have to worry your delicate royal head about it," he said.

"So you really want to be a snake?" asked Tadase, his polite tone getting strained.

"No duh, pretty-boy."

Tadase gritted his teeth and looked at the next question on the list to avoid making the discussion heated – on his side, at least. He was rather certain that Nagihiko would never let on if he was mad or not. The boy just seemed to have a grudge against kindness. "And the next question? If you could have anything in the world…?"

"I'd like one of those plasma screen televisions," was the simple answer. "A gun would be cool," he added.

"I wish that everybody I love could just be happy and healthy," said Tadase, his face softening.

Nagihiko snorted. "Pansy," he commented.

The blond boy frowned. He was just like Ikuto, only more happy-looking. "So what part of your personality would you change if you could?" he asked.

Nagihiko let out a long-suffering sigh and seemed to grin apologetically at him. "I just wish I weren't so nice," he said in an infuriatingly earnest manner.

"Right." Tadase had forgotten to un-grit his teeth first so the word had come out strangled. He wrenched his teeth apart through sheer will and fought to stay nice. "I want to be stronger."

"I can see why," remarked the Snake.

"Okay, nest question; 'If you saw somebody steal something, what would you do?'" Tadase asked, taking a few calming breaths. He looked up to see Nagihiko still smiling beatifically at him. "Well _I_ would try to apprehend the thieves."

Nagihiko's smile widened, if that was even possible. "Oh I would definitely join in," he said cheerfully.

"You have no morals, Fujisaki," said Tadase darkly.

"It took you that long to figure it out, Prince?"

Tadase glared. He'd had no idea that somebody acting so pleasant and looking so carefree could be so irritating. It was driving him completely mad. Nagihiko just smirked in satisfaction when Tadase made no further attempt to please the teacher by asking and answering the nonsensical questions.

-------

"Let me guess; you'd be a cat," Rima said coldly.

Ikuto grinned at her. "And you'd be a parasite," he informed her cheerfully.

"Well, Kitty…" Rima started to glower at him when she realized he'd instantly tuned out after his remark. He was staring at the window sill. "Longing for freedom? The windows are locked."

"I know that," he smirked.

Rima made a mental note that he was a mental-case and a buffoon before concentrating on the paper again. She could not afford to let them contact her parents; the result would be unthinkable. "What would you wish for?" she said after ascertaining that he'd finished reading the question.

His expression remained lighthearted. "I'd like to burn down this school; it's a huge waste of my time," he explained. After a pause, he asked "You?"

"I'd like…" Her eyes flickered slightly, indicating her intent to lie. Ikuto raised his eyebrow fractionally but ignored it. "Well, to start I'd like a decent massage, spa treatment, my hair done, a new wardrobe, a better car and driver, some servants that are more competent than the love-sick slave-boys I have now…"

"Spare me the list, Frosty," he rolled his eyes.

She gave him a look that was as close to disbelief as the usually expressionless girl would get. "Frosty," she said.

"Yep; Frosty," he confirmed.

She stared at him for a long while before abruptly changing the subject. "If you could change your personality…?" she asked, not bothering to actually finish the question.

"Hm? Now why would I want that? I'd get boring," he stated.

"I'd like to be richer," she said thoughtfully.

He chuckled. "That's not personality, Frosty."

"If you saw somebody steal…?" she prompted, ignoring him.

"Ignore them. Too much effort," Ikuto clarified.

She looked out the window to the quad outside. "For once, you actually have a good idea," she murmured. "If somebody is stupid or careless enough to get it stolen in the first place, then they deserve it."

"Why _are_ you so short?" Ikuto queried suddenly. "Do you have dwarf genes or something?"

Rima shot him a sinister glare before reverting to an air of frigidity. "'List some of your favourite…" her lip curled in distaste "…_hobbies_'," she said.

"Sleeping, skipping school, napping…" he began.

"Sleeping and napping are the same things," she interjected. He shrugged. Seeing his expectant look, she said "Being rich and having people cater to my every whim."

"Aren't we the spoiled one?"

"Take a good, long look at my nickname, Tsukiyomi; _Princess_."

Once again, Rima noticed that his attention was wandering. This time, however, they glinted with anticipation as he watched something behind her. She turned to see Sanjou and Nikaido exiting the room and close the door firmly behind them before turning back. "What are you getting so excited about?" she asked slightly petulantly. "It's not like we can get out of here…"

Seemingly out of nowhere, Ikuto produced a few lock picks and started working on the ones at the window. In several moments, the windows opened with a faint _click!_

Rima's eyes actually widened at the prospect of freedom. "Why didn't you do that earlier?" she asked, peeved. At his 'are you kidding me' expression, she conceded that it would've been a bad idea to do it within full view of the teachers. Without further ado, he vaulted out the first-floor window and escaped the confines of the classroom.

Before anybody else noticed, Rima followed suit – if quite a bit less gracefully. Athleticism had always been her weakest point. When she'd managed to crawl through the window, she straightened up, prayed that nobody had seen her in such an ungainly position, and headed off.

-------

Utau had seen the teachers go out the door and, after what she deemed a reasonable amount of time, turned to look at Ikuto's table. Sure enough, a window stood invitingly open and the Stray Cat and Ice Princess were nowhere to be found. They had only managed to answer three questions before becoming utterly sick of one another and refusing to talk. With a muttered 'thank god', she hastily stood up and headed for that window.

Amu looked up at the action, watching in confusion as Utau walked away. Her expression cleared when Utau grabbed a hold of the window sill and gracefully launched herself outside. It was almost as if she'd had plenty of practice escaping through windows. For a moment, she sat and debated over her actions before deciding that getting out of the classroom would be better for her health and sanity than staying there. Before the teachers could come back, she strode up to the window and clambered outside.

By now, Kairi, who had given up and found a chair to sit in, noticed the open window. Before he could get up and lock it again to prevent everybody else from escaping, a hand patted him on the shoulder.

"Don't even think about it." Kukai spoke from behind him, repaying his shock from when Kairi did the same. He walked nonchalantly towards the gateway to outside and even started to whistle as he leapt outside. Yaya, hot on his heels, showed off a little by doing a little flip. Nagihiko gave him a wink before following them outside.

"I can't believe they would do this," Tadase said, letting disapproval colour his voice.

"Oh, shut it, Hotori," Kairi said wearily. "_I'm_ the one who's gonna have to explain to his aunt why her class has disappeared."

"I'll be here," he offered.

Kairi mumbled something incoherent. "I don't get how they opened the window. They were all locked!" he complained.

"I'm sure she'll understand," comforted the Prince.

Kairi gave him a look. "You don't really know her very well, do you?" At Tadase's faintly puzzled look, he just sighed. He'd _known_ that getting involved was a bad idea and yet he still let himself be dragged along. Boy, did he regret that now.

~*~

**A/N:** Does anybody else think that the Powers send each other way too many looks and glares and raised eyebrows? I'm fast becoming way too repetitive with these things. Just stop being so expressive, darn you!

... *cough* Okay. In other news... um... enjoy...?


	8. More Work for the Teachers

**A/N: **Gah! I meant to post a week ago, I did! But the laptop broke down on me and I lost internet access. Besides, I was having a bit of writer's block around then, too. I got over it, as you can see. Thankfully.

~*~

**More Work for the Teachers**

For a moment, after Sanjou re-entered Room 9, her brain rejected the data her eyes presented it with. After a double-take, her head started to hurt. Only her nephew and Tadase were in the room. All the other Powers had vanished. She'd only stepped outside for no more than ten minutes and catastrophe strikes. Sanjou turned enraged eyes to the Captain. "What happened here?" she asked slowly.

The look of absolute fear on Kairi's face would have been comical if the furious woman standing in front of him wasn't taken into account.

"Sanjou-sensei," said Tadase in a reasonable voice, "it wasn't his fault." He flinched when her gaze was directed at him.

Nikaido stepped between his partner and the two students, mindful of how much paperwork he would have to fill out if Sanjou attacked them. "Sanjou, calm down; the Captain couldn't force them to stay if they really wanted to leave," he said.

"How did they get out?!" she yelled. "The windows were locked! We triple-checked!"

"Probably Tsukiyomi," mumbled Tadase.

"You be quiet!" Sanjou snapped at the boy. "Everybody knows you've got some weird feud with the Stray Cat."

Tadase looked shocked. "But…"

"They'd better be on time tomorrow or I will flay them alive, roast them slowly on a flame, sell them as meat, and use their hides as drum-skins…" At Sanjou's continued threats Nikaido sweat-dropped and sighed. Suddenly she turned, pointing an accusatory finger at Tadase. "That goes for you too!" she shouted.

He backed away and looked at Kairi or help. The Captain pretended not to see him, glad that he wasn't the one his aunt had focused her anger on. Tadase moaned. "What did I do?" he asked thin air. Sanjou, who had abnormal hearing when she was mad, slowly advanced on him. Nikaido and Kairi decided that the best way to deal with the situation was to pretend it wasn't happening and began to talk rather madly about mundane, school-related topics.

Tadase gulped, too scared to even call for help.

-------

Rima's steps slowed as she walked away from the school, eventually stopping altogether. She was surrounded by markets and stalls, people babbling loudly during the midday rush. This was bad; she'd been stupid to just climb out of the window and head off someplace just because she couldn't stand the people in the room. If anybody found her wandering around all alone, they would freak out. By 'anybody' she meant her parents or their hired workers, of course. This was her first time out in public alone in five years. It was both exhilarating and daunting at the same time. _Never go anywhere without somebody to protect you_. This was one of the rules that had been engraved onto her mind since forever. And now, she was breaking it.

It became even more daunting when she realized that she was lost. Her chauffeurs had always driven her to where she'd needed to go and she never paid attention to the world outside the limousine's blacked-out windows.

It took her a while to notice a hand being waved in front of her face as she stood there. When she finally noticed, the man waving laughed. "Hey there, little girl," he greeted. "Are you lost?"

_Never draw attention to yourself_. Rima backed away, starting to panic. _Never look a stranger in the eyes. Never talk to strangers._

"Why aren't you in school?" he asked. His confusion grew when she refused to even look at him. "Girl? What's your name?" he said more suspiciously now. It looked as though she was skipping school.

_Never, ever give personal information away._ She turned, ready to run when his hand clasped her shoulder, preventing her from doing so. _Never, under any circumstances, should you let somebody touch or corner you._

_Never show fear or any other sign of weakness_. All of a sudden, Rima seemed to come back to her senses and slapped the man's hand away. "I have no need to answer any of those questions," she said coldly without turning around. Then she calmly walked off, leaving the man standing there speechless.

After putting sufficient distance between the man and herself, Rima stopped again. What was she going to do now? She didn't know where she was and she couldn't ask anybody to find out because that would make her father and mother angry. She had to get back to school before the driver arrived to pick her up or they would panic and call the international state police or something similar. Why, oh why did she go through that window?

"Oh my gosh, the Princess is wandering around without a bodyguard?" came a very unwelcome voice. It happened to belong to a certain cheerleading captain.

The blonde, although she was lost, confused and nearing desperation, managed to keep her expression cool and distant. "What? That was actually an original quote and _not_ from some garish fashion magazine?" she said, feinting minor surprise.

"You _are_ alone," commented Yaya after taking a quick look around. There were no burly men in black around watching the Princess's every move like a hawk.

"And you are a genius," Rima replied drily. "Was there something you wanted or did you just want to gawk at the absence of hired thugs?"

"You're never alone," continued Yaya as if she had never spoken.

Rima crossed her arms, her expression considerably less aloof and more irritated than it would have been if she was in a more comfortable environment.

"So this means that they don't know where you are," she concluded triumphantly before looking thoughtful again. "But that can't be right."

"Is it such a hard task to believe that they may have let me out in public _on my own_?" Rima asked.

Yaya just raised her eyebrows in a 'no duh' look. "You wouldn't run away from your limousine and posh life, though," said Yaya slowly. She was almost at the truth, she knew.

"Of course I wouldn't run away. Like I said, they _know_ where I…"

"You're _lost_!" Yaya shouted gleefully. "The _Ice Princess_ is _lost_!"

"How did you come to that conclusion?" she asked snippily.

Yaya didn't answer her question, instead starting to say in a sing-song voice "The Ice Princess is lost, she doesn't know where she is and I do. You are so lost!"

"What are you, an eight-year-old child?" Rima snapped. She didn't expect such an immediate reaction though. It was almost as if she'd flicked a switch and Yaya suddenly become more withdrawn. Her teasing stopped and her attitude reverted to the sassy one all the students were familiar with.

"Look, Mashiro, I could just leave you here to rot or I could point you back to school where your _chauffeur_ can pick you up and drive you back to your mansion or whatever, okay?" she said, one hand on her hip and the other popping some more gum into her mouth.

"I'm. Not. Lost." said Rima throughgritted teeth.

"That means you are," Yaya replied smugly.

"How do you figure that one?" Rima shook her head disbelievingly.

"Because you said it in a really mad way," she explained.

Rima just sighed and turned away, planning to ignore the insane younger girl. When she wasn't looking, Yaya bit her lip worriedly and had an intense inner debate with herself. Should she help one of the people she despised, or be heartless and let her suffer? No matter what people thought of her, the first option won hands down.

"Hey, Mashiro," she called out nonchalantly. "Because Iactually have a heart, unlike you, I'm going to tell you how to get back to school." She had to get at least _one_ jibe in. After all, she wasn't exactly a saint.

"Don't need it," Rima threw back over her shoulder.

"Really," spat Yaya, fuming at the lack of gratitude or even acknowledgement from the other Power. "Well, in that case, I'll just tell the wall over here where it is, shall I?" she said sarcastically. "Maybe _it_ will be interested. All you have to do is take a right turn for two streets, turn left and keep going for three more, turn right and then follow the curve of the road until you get to the unused post office before turning left again. Can you remember that, Wall-san?"

"Wall-san? Just how childish can you be?" Rima commented, rather angry that she'd been helped by the Witch of the school.

"Oh, you can remember it, Wall-san? That's good, because I won't repeat them."

"Whatever. Goodbye, loser," said Rima before heading in the opposite direction that she was supposed to. Yaya glared at the blonde before leaving in a huff. That was the _last_ time she ever tried to help out a spoiled brat. She'd tried her best, learnt her lesson and washed her hands of the matter. If Rima wanted to be discovered in a ditch somewhere it would serve her proud self right.

After she left muttering to herself, Rima cautiously stepped back into the street and looked both ways to make sure that the other girl was nowhere in sight. Furious about her situation and resenting it every single step on the way back, she grudgingly followed Yaya's directions and avoided what would have been a catastrophe if she hadn't showed up outside her classroom on time.

Perhaps she should somehow attain a map after she got home so that the need for outside direction never represented itself again? That seemed like an excellent idea. She congratulated herself for thinking it up and felt satisfied after her day of misadventures. Not once did the idea that she didn't learn the lesson offered to her that day cross her mind.

-------

The door was softly shut as Tadase finally escaped Room 9 and Sanjou's lecture about being weak-willed, a suck-up, good-for-nothing pretty-boy. It was right alongside her lecture to Kairi about being a weak, traumatized, powerless, useless, undeserving Captain who wouldn't be good for anything but cattle-fodder. Then she'd yelled at Nikaido by accident because she'd been on a roll and he happened to interrupt at the wrong moment. A small part of Tadase hoped that the other Powers would get a worse lecture the next day.

Back in the classroom, Sanjou slumped in her chair, worn out from venting at the students.

Nikaido was oddly cheerful next to her. "We still have half a day left, you know," he said. "Shall we take it off?"

For a moment she stayed silent. "No," she decided. Nikaido's smile fell at the word.

"What do you want us to do? Form a search party?" he asked.

"We're going to follow Nobuko's suggestion," she announced.

He frowned. "Which one? The transfer school thing or the…?"

"The 'transfer school thing'," she mimicked him.

Kairi looked at the two with an utterly confused expression on his face. "What are you guys talking about," he asked.

Nikaido gave him a friendly pat on the shoulder. "I'll explain later. Who do you want to do first? Hinamori, Fujisaki, Souma, Tsukiyomi or Mashiro?" he inquired.

"I think," she said thoughtfully, "I want to know why Fujisaki smiles so much. It's not natural."

"Maybe he's had plastic surgery?" he suggested. Before she could do anything painful to him, he added "That was a joke!"

Sanjou decided to let it slide. "According to Nobuko, his last teacher at his old school was a woman called…"

"Nobuko? What about her?" asked a lost-looking Kairi.

Nikaido shooed him out the door, cheerful again. "We are going teacher-hunting. Bring some coffee; we can use it as bait."

-------

The teacher was the average middle-aged woman that looked old before her time due to her profession. Teaching was a dangerous job that shortened life spans by a considerable amount and robbed the practitioner of any vitality. Needless to say, she was surprised to receive three glasses-wearing guests asking for her during the middle of the day.

The man smiled warmly at her and held out his hand. "Sorry for interrupting your lunch break; I understand how important it is. I'm Yuu Nikaido and this," he gestured at Sanjou, "is Yukari Sanjou. We're both teachers," he explained.

"I'm a School Captain," Kairi interjected. He had been filled in on the details during the car drive.

"Who also happens to be my nephew," said Sanjou.

The teacher stared at them, nodding uncertainly. "Okay…?"

"Well, we're inquiring about a student," Nikaido clarified.

"He's been causing trouble and we wondered whether this has always been the case," added Sanjou.

"Because although he's really vicious, he smiles all the time," Kairi said.

"Um…" the teacher looked at her watch. "I really haven't got the time…"

Nikaido nodded understandingly before holding up a paper cup. "We brought coffee," he offered.

Her eyes widened. "You mean… the real kind, not the awful stuff we have in our staffrooms?" she said hopefully.

"Yep," he answered.

"I've got plenty of time. What do you want to know?" she asked, her manner becoming a lot more agreeable.

Kairi gaped at the change that the prospect of well-made coffee made in her. Nikaido had said that being a teacher made you yearn for a strong blast of caffeine, but he'd never imagined that it was actually _true_.

"It's about a boy called Nagihiko Fujisaki…" Sanjou started.

"Fujisaki…" the teacher frowned, trying to place him.

"Long purple hair," Kairi said helpfully.

Her eyes widened as she remembered him. "Oh! _Nagihiko _Fujisaki!" she exclaimed.

"Yes; what was he like?" asked Nikaido.

The teacher looked at him with confusion. "You said he was vicious and smiled a lot?" At Sanjou's nod, her puzzlement only grew. "Are you sure?"

"Yes," the trio chorused.

"Only… I remember him as the child who never smiled. In fact, he never showed any expression at all. But he was always polite - is something the matter?" she asked, seeing the bewildered looks on their faces.

"No, nothing. Thank you for your time," Sanjou said hurriedly. "It was a very… educating visit."

The older woman's eyes were fixed hungrily on the cup of coffee. "The pleasure will be all mine," she replied.

~*~

**A/N:** Let's see... I have the first eight days fully planned in detail, and I know how the story will end. Then I thought that you guys might like to give some suggestions for ways we could torture the Powers in the time between. You'll have to wait a _long_ time for me to start using them, seeing as two days have taken eight chapters already. Yes; in the next chapter is the next day. And finally, enjoy as much as you are able to!


	9. Morning After

**A/N:** Um, first off, I would like to apologize for how short this chapter is. Next, I would like to say that I'm going to try and update tomorrow if I can to make up for it. I just _really, really_ wanted to end it there. Besides, this part advances the plot as well. It's probably really abrupt but...

~*~

**Morning After**

Amu stared at her reflection. It was a new day; a day without any regrets in it yet. So far, for the half-hour she'd been awake in her room, she hadn't had to use her 'Cool and  
Spicy' character. Secretly, she hated it. She hated the character and she was starting to hate herself for becoming the person whom she'd always deemed an 'outer façade'. For almost five years, she'd led everyone to believe in a heartless, soulless, apathetic and rather gothic girl who didn't care what anybody thought of her. Rima's remark from two days ago – Monday - reverberated in her skull.

"_I wonder if you haven't noticed, Hinamori, but you've got no friends."_

Her hands clenched around the rim of the sink and she let out a bitter laugh. What did _she_ know? Mashiro was just some rich kid who was surrounded by people _paid_ to be nice to her. She stepped on people and used them for her own pleasure and comfort. The other Powers didn't understand what it felt like when a piece of you was slowly dying and there was really nothing left in the world to enjoy. The callous comments and unconcerned regard that she had to use just so that her reputation would be kept intact… it was slowly driving her insane.

After heaving a sigh, the sixteen-year-old stepped out of her bathroom and crossed her bedroom, steeling herself to open the door and face the world. Taking a deep breath, she made sure she looked as unruffled as ever and opened the door to face her first challenge of the day: her ten-year-old sister.

Ami Hinamori, a baby-faced brunette with honey-brown eyes, stopped in her tracks when she saw the door to the room being opened. She actually shrank back when Amu turned to look at her. Without a word, the rosette closed the door and headed down the stairs, fighting the urge to cry after she heard the sigh of relief from behind her.

Her own family tried to avoid her. At first, they'd adored her 'Cool and Spicy' character but after a while it became tiring. Then the utter indifference made them feel uncomfortable: as though she thought that they weren't interesting or good enough for her to talk to. They started to alienate themselves from her and she relied even more on her façade to get her through the day. It was a never-ending cycle that she wished she knew how to break. She might be popular, but it had come with a terrible cost – desperate loneliness.

Her toast was on the table. Everybody else made it a point to finish breakfast early so that they wouldn't have to face her. If they ate together, her parents would feel obliged to talk to her, hurting her by how forced they sounded and causing her to stick to her Cool and Spicy personality. Any conversation eventually dried up, turning into an awkward silence.

She grabbed her breakfast, threw her backpack on her shoulder and quickly exited her house. Amu knew that the shutting of the door was the signal for her family to come alive again. She'd known that for three years. Every day, she looked wistfully in the window to the lounge room, watching her parents and sister let out a thankful laugh and start talking eagerly about everyday things. She was a constant pain in their lives.

Amu turned away, hastily wiping away the tears forming in her eyes. She wished, more than anything in the world, to be able to join in that relaxed banter she always caught a glimpse of. Once again, she wished she could be normal.

-------

When Amu turned up a few minutes after the bell, she was surprised to see almost everybody standing there. The only people missing were Ikuto, Rima, Utau and the teachers. Nagihiko was idly spinning a basketball on his finger. A moment later, Rima literally _rode_ in. Everybody rolled their eyes or looked unimpressed at the small blonde who was sitting atop a chair being carried by three of her doting fans. Imperiously, she gestured at them to put her down before stepping off.

"Thank you," she said, fluttering her eyelashes. Rima was known to throw a bone to her little dogs every now and then to keep them eager and loyal. When they finally left to go to their own classes, she shook her head in disgust. "Pathetic," she commented.

The Powers present sneered at her, their loathing tangible. She shrugged daintily before ignoring them. They heard Utau before they saw her. She was arguing into her mobile.

"No, _you_ look," she snapped. "I don't care. I'm not going to sing some pop trash with a beat and act like some kind of whore because you want 'appeal', okay? That doesn't even _sound_ like…" She trailed off when she caught sight of them and realized they could actually hear her conversation. "I have to call you back," she said, promptly disconnecting the call.

"You don't have to _act_ like a whore, Hoshina; you _are _one," said Yaya spitefully. Utau scowled but refrained from returning her name-calling. The main reason for this was that she could see the teachers striding down the hall. Nikaido looked friendly as ever but Sanjou's face embodied pure fury. The sight of them reignited the anger she felt when she'd realized they had escaped last afternoon.

"Who do you think you _are_?" she yelled the moment she was close enough to clearly see their faces. "I don't _care_ if other students like you. I don't _care_ if you always get your way around here. I don't _care_ that you're the oh-so-famous 'Powers'. You are still students of this school and what's more, you are young adults, not the little spoiled brats that you act like."

"Um… Sanjou-sensei…?" Nikaido said cautiously. She ignored her colleague.

"And _where_ is Tsukiyomi?" she demanded.

"Behind you," he replied sardonically. Amu's eyes widened. This was not the relaxed and rather playful Stray Cat of yesterday but one seriously pissed off guy whose sullen glower halted even Sanjou in her tracks.

"What's got you all uptight, Tsukiyomi?" Kukai said, eyeing the basketball Nagihiko was playing with in distaste. When Ikuto didn't reply, he looked up to see the blue-haired guy slinking off into a corner somewhere without even getting told off.

Nikaido cleared his throat. "Alright; we're going to the library for this morning's activity. Follow us on your very best behaviour," he instructed them slowly and as though they were in grade one. At this reminder, Sanjou relaxed and was actually starting to look forward to the next activity. It was what Nobuko had suggested, and what a large chunk of her money went towards.

"And you couldn't tell us to go there in the first place because…?" asked Yaya.

Nagihiko grinned. "Because they were afraid that _some_ of us wouldn't know where the library is or even _what_ it is," he explained condescendingly. "When I say that - and I mean this in the _best_ _possible way_ – I'm thinking of you. Souma as well, of course," he added as an afterthought.

Yaya reverted to the overused classics in an effort to salvage her reputation. "Yeah, whatever loser." It sounded thin even to her.

"Shut up and walk," ordered Sanjou with a dangerous glint in her eye. They slowly and unwillingly obeyed.

It was very unfortunate for the teachers that one of Tadase's fangirls spotted them as they were walking past the open door to their classroom. The cry went out and the students, who had previously been doing _actual_ _work_, came stampeding through to the Powers. That is, until Ikuto's fangirls screeched to a halt and backed off at the all-too-familiar expression of fierce impatience. The other fans ran smack into them and a huge mass of bodies were dragged down with the fray. Of course, as always, many fights broke out and after the other classes heard the commotion, about a hundred students would be sent to sick bay.

The Powers couldn't stay and watch, however, since Nikaido hurried them along. He kept looking nervously over his shoulder; if the principal found out and had words with Sanjou, he would be the one suffering for the rest of the fortnight.

"What is your _problem?_" exclaimed an exasperated Amu. The person she was yelling at had been purposefully bumping her, shoving her, elbowing her and generally getting in her way.

Utau used the typical female move for when used to drive the other person up the wall and make them feel belittled; she examined her nails. "You tell me."

Of course, another voice had to butt in. "Her problem is that she's a spoiled, rich and stuck-up brat," said Yaya, hand on her hip. "Oh wait; that goes for Mashiro, too."

"Apart from the economic situation, you just described yourself perfectly," Rima countered.

Yaya let out a disbelieving laugh. "You have got to be kidding me; you don't even _know_ me."

"Again with the hypocrisy. It does get tiring," the small blonde girl remarked.

"Tell me, little _Princess_; did you make it back to school in time to be picked up by one of your _limousines_?"

Rima gave her a blank look. "What are you talking about, half-wit?"

This was when Kukai decided to throw in his two cents worth. He started chanting "Catfight! Catfight! Catfight!" much to the annoyance of, well, everybody.

"Enough!" Sanjou yelled. "We're going to the library! _Now_!" Only the thought of the Powers' reaction to their first activity of the day was getting her through this. Nikaido was sorely tempted to leave the Powers to their own devices and run out for an extra hit of caffeine, but opted to stay there and silently support the feisty woman beside him. As much as she hated to admit it, she _did_ care about what happened to the students.

They started off again; this time in a frosty silence.

The silence continued all the way down to the library, for which the teachers were grateful: things were going better than predicted.

"Hey, where's the Captain?" Kukai piped up suddenly.

Amu shrugged off-handedly. "Who cares?"

"We thought that he was not needed in today's first activity. He will be joining us later on," said the Captain's aunt.

"And… he was needed yesterday?" asked Rima skeptically.

"Well, he was _supposed_ to keep an eye on you lot." She looked at them pointedly to which they responded with uncaring ones.

"Ah! Our special guests have arrived!" exclaimed Nikaido delightedly. The Powers turned to see a group of people in business attire. There were exactly eight of them, which the teenagers all noticed immediately.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Tadase warned.

Utau rolled her eyes. "We're not complete _imbeciles_, thank you very much _Prince_."

"Why don't you stop being secretive and just tell us what this is about?" suggested Nagihiko, spinning his basketball on his finger again. Although the Powers didn't deign to visibly agree with him, they looked at the teachers expectantly.

"Well," she said, starting to smile triumphantly. "This will become a rather regular occurrence in the next few weeks. Every three or four days, you will gather here outside the library to meet these eight people… for therapy sessions." A smile lit her face as they gawked at her soundlessly. It didn't last long.

"_What?!_" they screeched in unison.

~*~

**A/N:** Yes people. They're going to therapy. I can only hope I live up to your expectations after this.


	10. To Avoid Giving an Answer

**A/N:** Okey-dokey... five days ago, I said that I might have been able to post 'tomorrow'. Heh... sorry about that. I promise that I will update during the weekends sometime, since this is the first part of the therapy thingies. I guess it's kind of like 'Fight!' except I'm naming them differently. In this half, you get to see Rima, Ikuto, Utau, Tadase and Kukai (not in that order). I'm not a very funny person, so these parts are basically very minor character building. Oh, and Kutau is officially the first couple to even get a hint of romance. That's... a few chapters ahead, but look forward to it!

~*~

**To Avoid Giving an Answer**

"So, Hotori-san, we usually start off with you telling me a little bit about yourself," the middle-aged woman proposed, adjusting her spectacles. They were sitting in a corner of the library, away from the other groups. There, among the dusty bookshelves, the well-paid professionals would try to pry secrets from the popular teenagers and perhaps 'help' them.

"Really?" Tadase said, interested. "How many patients have you had?"

She cleared her throat. "That is not relevant to our session," she replied tersely.

"Why did you accept to act as a therapist to a sixteen-year-old? Do you have money troubles or something?"

"No, I… Hotori-san, let's concentrate on _you_ for the moment," she said politely.

"Why? Do you expect me to pour my heart out to a complete stranger?"

She let out a brittle laugh. "I'm not paid to talk about myself; I'm here to offer help which somebody at least thinks you need."

"So you're paid to get somebody else to talk to you?" he said, nodding. "What made you choose this kind of profession?"

The therapist started to say something but then changed her mind. "Hotori-san, are you trying to avoid talking about yourself by trying to turn the questions around so we focus on me?"

"What are you talking about?" asked Tadase innocently.

"What is it that you are avoiding?" she asked sharply.

"That's for me to know, and it's supposedly your job to find out," he answered with just a hint of smugness.

-------

Utau popped the piece of bubble gum she stole off Yaya into her mouth. Her manager had been talking about her starting an acting career to boost her popularity. Even though she wasn't looking forward to the idea, it wouldn't hurt to practice how to act like a dumb, plastic pop-princess.

"So, Hoshina-san, tell me about yourself," the sixty-year-old man requested gently. She started chewing the gum in the most off-putting way she could: it was still nowhere near Yaya's level, but that took years of practice to muster.

"Well," she started obnoxiously, "I've got, like, a studio where I, like, go and, you know, sing," she said happily. "I had the walls, like, painted purple so that they brought out the colour of, like, my eyes. It's, like, totally awesome."

"Yes; your songs. My granddaughter is a big fan of yours," he said. "I will refrain from passing judgement on your recent songs," he said, barely hiding his distaste. "But I _have_ heard some of your earlier ones."

_Uh oh_. That was back when she had actually had a say in what she did and wrote her own lyrics.

"What caused the slide from deep, meaningful songs to the popular techno 'music' you sing now?"

"Oh, those things," she said, thinking quickly. "Well, you know, I didn't actually write those things, because… well, my manager said that I should be more well-known before I start singing about… you know, my things, because otherwise I'll just come across like some loser of a wannabe," Utau explained, fighting hard not to laugh.

He stared at her. "Alright then, Hoshina-san: tell me about your family."

"What can I say? They, like, so don't get me. I, like, bought one of those purses that cost, like, way much money and they were all like 'What did you do that for' and I was like 'It's the latest trend' and they, like, started trying to tell me to spend less and I was like 'Whatever'. It was so worth it though," she added. Actually, she was starting to enjoy herself, especially since she was watching the older man's face become horrified at first before settling into features of resignation. Man, she was _convincing_.

"Tell me about your school life," he said, sighing.

"Oh, are you interested? I didn't know you had it in you, old man," she blew a bubble. "Well, I'm, like, _the_ most popular girl here. Of course the other Powers might say that _they're_, like, the best. They're just jealous because I'm famous," she confided in him.

"Right," he grunted. He took a deep breath before speaking again. "Hoshina-san, why do I have the feeling that you are not being frank with me?"

She blinked. "Like, I have _no_ idea what you're blabbing about. By the way, I like people to call me 'Hoshina-_sama_'." She started to primp herself up as she said this.

He closed his eyes and laid his head in his hands.

-------

"And... you are Ikuto Tsukiyomi?" the middle-aged and balding man asked.

Ikuto decided that sarcasm was the best way to answer such a pointless question. "No, I'm the tooth fairy."

The therapist cleared his throat and tried again. It was his policy to try and make his patients feel welcome. "Well, I am…"

"I don't give a crap who the hell you are," he snarled. Unfortunately for both patient and doctor that day, the man was the type of person who basically assumed things about people from their first impression. In fact, he thought that Ikuto was embarrassed about being forced to go through therapy and was trying to cover it up by lashing out.

"Tsukiyomi-san, I _understand_ that you must be reluctant about going through with _therapy sessions_. Any boy your age would…"

"I get that you love your voice or whatever, but could you _shut up_?" he asked in exasperation.

The therapist's mouth opened and closed several times. "Am I hitting a nerve?" he said delightedly.

"You're _getting_ on them."

The comment was ignored. "So, it says here that you often get into fights both at school and outside of school. Why do you think that is?"

"Because people like you make me want to punch you in the face."

That, too, was disregarded. "Well, _I_ think that you are punishing yourself for something," he said confidently.

Having taken as much as he could in his agitated state, Ikuto snapped. "You know what I think? I think that you _therapists_ are sick, twisted bags of crap. You get people to_ pay_ you so that you can look into their minds and judge their thoughts, telling them that they need '_help_'. You _analyse_ how people think and claim that you are here to 'fix' them because they're apparently _broken_," he said sharply.

The therapist was outraged. "I'll have you know that very many of our patients are overstressed or have issues which we work through..."

"But only the ones with money can receive your '_help_', apparently."

"You are being rather disrespectful, Tsukiyomi-san," he said dangerously.

Ikuto sneered. "Really? I meant to be downright rude and arrogant."

"You have succeeded."

"You don't know what 'shut up' means, do you?" he muttered in reply.

-------

"It says here that you are a... ladies' man, Souma-san," the surprisingly young woman read aloud.

He smirked. "Call me Kukai," he said.

"So Souma-san, why do you think you enjoy the company of women so much?" she asked, completely ignoring his comment. She was determined to remain professional and unflappable during the session.

He let out a rush of breath. "It's not that _I_ enjoy _them_, therapist-chan, but that _they_ enjoy _me_. I can show you why, if you want," he offered snidely. He wasn't trying to actually seduce her or anything like that; no, he just wanted to tick her off.

"I'm afraid I'll have to turn down that offer, Souma-san," she said, trying to refrain from making a disgusted face.

"You don't know what you're missing," he informed her.

She muttered under her breath. "And I hope I never will."

"What was that?" Kukai asked, pretending not to have heard it clearly.

"I asked why you disliked the other Powers so fiercely," she lied smoothly. Already she was getting impatient. He was like a million other teenage boys in the world; play football because they're good at it and it makes them well-liked and popular, then they sleep around because everybody on the team and, indeed, the school, expects it of them. He probably felt threatened by the other Powers, which was the cause of his hostility towards them.

"No reason," he said shrugging.

The therapist noted this down on the notebook she held open on her lap. "Do you think it's because you're threatened by their popularity and audacity?" she asked, voicing her opinions out loud. Then she remembered that she was talking to a jock who had probably been pressured into having less than half a brain-cell. "Audacity means daring or overconfidence or insolence..."

Kukai refrained from rolling his eyes. He knew that. Still, it didn't do for _her_ to know that he knew. She might actually think he had depth.

"I'm always attracted to women with brains," he said, trying not to laugh at the pure dishonesty of the statement.

"Right," she said sceptically. "Do you know what I think?" she said, leaning forward.

"That you'd like to go out on a date with me?" guessed Kukai.

Once again, she ignored it. "I think that you, like so many other teenage boys, are under a lot of pressure."

"You wouldn't know what 'pressure' was until -" he announced.

"No!" she interrupted him quickly. The therapist didn't know what he was going to say, but she did know that it would probably have been sick and wrong. "_Peer_ pressure. _Societal_ pressure," she corrected herself. "Pressure to look and act like nothing but a brainless, woman-loving jock."

"Nope," he said cheerfully. "Way off the mark. Then again, we can always continue this conversation over dinner," he said, waggling his eyebrows.

"No," she rejected him immediately.

"Man, you're too uptight," he complained.

Her eyes narrowed. "This isn't a dating service; your teachers are paying me thousands of dollars to ensure that you problematic students receive therapy," she snapped.

"Well then, you'd be making money by not doing anything at all. Dream come true, right?" he grinned.

"I understand that the pressure on teenage boys..."

"Are you sure you don't want to go out sometime? Don't you like Italian food?"

The therapist slapped her forehead in frustration.

-------

"Won't you at least say something, Mashiro-san?" said an absolutely exasperated middle-aged man.

She gave him a blank look before going back to filing her nails.

"Do you have something to hide? Is that why you refuse to even speak with me?" he tried.

Finally, Rima decided to take moderate pity on the man who was trying to earn his money properly. "I'm thirsty," she said by way of clarification.

He stared at her. "What?"

"My throat is parched, so I can't speak much," she reiterated.

His jaw dropped open. "So you're saying that you wasted almost half an hour of my time because you were _thirsty_?"

She nodded as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "The air is much too stuffy and the books give off an odd aroma. The lighting is detrimental to my eyes and the company isn't the most favourable either," she added.

His eye twitched. The therapist got the insult. "It says here that your parents are very wealthy, correct?"

She raised an eyebrow delicately. "Do you really have to ask me what is in front of you?"

"I meant is the information correct?" he asked.

Instead of answering, she merely gestured at her throat. "Fetch me some water, would you?" she requested demurely.

"You seemed fine while complaining about things!" he protested.

Her eyes widened at the sudden change in volume and quickly flooded with tears. She rarely ever fake-cried to get her way because it didn't really fit in with the icy persona. Besides, it was a secret weapon only to be used in the direst of circumstances. She started to sniffle in the cutest, most dainty way she could manage.

He was completely dumbfounded at the rapid change in behaviour. Like most men, however, he became completely terrified and docile once a woman turned on the waterworks. "Okay, okay! A drink!" He hurried out of his chair to fetch a glass of water.

Once he had gone, she allowed herself a small, satisfied smile.

The poor man never really got a chance to practice his mumbo-jumbo on her.

~*~

**A/N:** Like I said; not funny, just proof of how annoying they can be and that they refuse to listen to orders and hate authority. Or something like that. The next part will be up sooner than these last few have been up! Watch out for that one!


	11. The Aftermath

**A/N:** Wow. Everybody's saying that I'm funny. I guess you're supposed to be your own worst critic, right? Well, as promised, I've finished this one in time for the weekends! And it's a pretty good length, too. Oh, and of course...

**100 Reviews!** *streamers and balloons appear out of nowhere* Yay! Thank you everybody for reviewing! I appreciate all of them so much. XD Okay, now for the story.

~*~

**The Aftermath**

"Yuiki-san, why do you cheer lead?" the graying man asked, eyes actually brimming with interest.

"For the lulz," she replied lazily. Her plan was simple: lie until it was over.

The faintest of frowns appeared on his face. "Apparently you've taken the cheer leading team and improved it. It doesn't quite state how, though. Can you explain?"

"Yeah; I made the skirts shorter." There was a hint of irony in her voice as she said that. Her therapist didn't pick up on that.

"How did you become a Power even though you're a Freshman?" he questioned her again.

"I dunno. I'm likeable?"

"Yuiki-san, please answer the questions truthfully," he sighed.

"Fine." That was a lie.

He looked back down at the information sheet. "Tell me about your parents, Yuiki-san."

"They're, like, rock stars," she answered.

The therapist rubbed a palm over his face. "Why do you lie?" he asked without much hope.

"Because I'm addicted to it?" she proposed, smiling innocently.

"Lovely."

-------

The kindly old man lowered his glasses to regard Amu. "I can understand that you would feel a little uncomfortable to be forcibly put through therapy, Hinamori-san, but it would be easier for everybody if you just cooperated," he said softly.

She shrugged. "Whatever."

He decided to take that as an agreement to his suggestion. "Wonderful," he exclaimed, shuffling the pieces of paper on the library desk. "Now tell me; why do you think that Sanjou-sensei and Nikaido-sensei were so willing to pay outrageous prices for these sessions?"

"I don't know," she responded, shrugging again. "And I don't care," she said, interrupting the therapist as he was about to speak.

He put down his files and leaned back, watching her expectantly. "You don't mean that," he said confidently.

"Actually... yeah, I do," she contradicted him.

He let out a small chuckle. "Come now, Hinamori-san; you don't have to put on that kind of act with me," he said slightly patronizingly. He hadn't meant to be, but that was the way it turned out.

"This isn't an _act_... sir," she grunted. It wasn't an act anymore: it was her life.

"Why do you do it?" he asked, oblivious, as all educated men who thought they were on to something would be. "Were the other girls mean to you when you were younger?"

"No," she said flatly. "Buzz off."

He looked at her in concern. "Why are you so hostile to the people who just want to help?"

Amu crossed her arms over her chest. "Because," she answered. _Therapists... they were all the same._

"I thought you said you would cooperate with me to the benefit of everybody involved?"

She snorted. "No, I said 'whatever'."

"Oh," he sighed. "Was I presumptuous to think you were -"

"Yeah."

He looked rather crestfallen. "I didn't even finish my -"

"You didn't need to," she cut him short.

"Hinamori-san..."

"Whatever."

-------

Nagihiko smiled widely at the rather nervous-looking man across the table from him. He was much skinnier than the other male professors and seemed to be desperately searching for an escape. Nagihiko spun his basketball on a finger.

"F-Fujisaki-san," he started nervously, "would you mind not spinning that ball?"

"Yes," he replied immediately. The therapist waited in vain for him to stop.

"Um..." he began again.

Nagihiko gave him a pointed stare. "Yes, I _would_ mind," he expanded.

"Oh." The therapist faltered. "Well then, would you... would you mind putting your feet down?"

Nagihiko ignored him, busy noticing that the therapist was sitting against the side of the library. There was an inviting stretch of unfurnished wall right next to his head.

"Fujisaki-san -" The therapist couldn't get a word out, flinching as the basketball bounced noisily inches away from his left ear. Nagihiko caught it again smiled even wider, if that was possible.

"Yes sir?" he asked irreproachably.

"Could you -?" It bounced against the wall again, closer than before. He cringed, chewing his bottom lip.

"Nope," Nagihiko said blithely.

His mouth opened and the basketball bounced on the wall again, causing him to whimper rather pathetically. The therapist watched the ball with trepidation as Nagihiko spun it again. When the boy made a jerky movement as if he were about to throw it again, the man ducked.

Nagihiko laughed viciously. "Say, Doormat-san, you wouldn't mind if I just stayed here and didn't answer any of your stupid and pointless questions, would you?"

The therapist eyed the basketball warily.

"You can speak." Nagihiko snickered as he saw the therapist's reaction.

"Of-of course not, Fujisaki-san," he muttered, ashamed of how easily the teenager was pushing him around.

The basketball player leaned back and closed his eyes. "Brilliant. I can't believe how much of a wimp you are," he said delightedly. The therapist was almost in tears. Nobody had told him that the job would involve such an aggressive patient. But... he couldn't back out of it now. None of them could.

There had been a contract. Now he knew why.

-------

Sanjou and Nikaido were looking through the answers to the questions that the Powers had been set the day before. They were quite certain that many of them were untrue and were passing the time by guessing which ones they were.

"The Phoenix does _not_ want to be a penguin!" Sanjou snapped.

Nikaido, apparently, thought differently. "It's a distinct possibility, you must agree."

"If you seriously keep on saying that, I might have to inform the police that I think you're doing drugs or something," she said crossly.

"I'm just saying that it might be a..."

"Captain!" the woman exclaimed.

He stared at her. "Um... I'm a teacher, remember?" he said worriedly.

Somebody coughed from behind him. "I think she was talking about me, Nikaido-sensei," said Kairi apologetically.

"Oh. That makes sense."

Sanjou slapped the back of Nikaido's head before turning to face her nephew. "Nikaido thinks that the Phoenix might really want to be reincarnated as a penguin. I think he's bonkers. What about you, Captain?"

"You both might have a point," he replied thoughtfully. "He _might_ really want to be a penguin. Then again... he definitely doesn't."

"Why are we arguing about this?" asked Nikaido irately.

Sanjou's phone started going off. "Ah!" she exclaimed brightly "The Powers' time is almost up."

Nikaido rubbed a palm over his face. "I can just imagine how the sessions turned out," he grumbled.

"Remember, I bet ten dollars that the Snake's therapist is going to complain," Sanjou said, rather cheerfully. Kairi raised an eyebrow at this. It felt like the two adults had just swapped personalities. It was scary seeing his aunt so... abnormal.

"I bet twenty that the Stray's therapist is the one that'll whine first," he said tiredly.

Kairi looked at them both. "Can I put one in?" he requested.

Sanjou gave him a stern look. "You know I usually don't approve of gambling," she reminded him, "but I'll allow it just this one time."

He sighed. "I bet fifty dollars that they're all going to come out here asking for a Power swap."

"Even the Prince's?" asked Nikaido curiously.

"Even the Prince's," Kairi confirmed, "because he _is_ a Power, after all."

Both teachers grunted doubtfully. In their experience, Tadase was the one who mainly listened to his orders. True, his presence in a classroom caused disruption but it was _unintentional_... for the most part, at any rate. It was more than she could say for the other Powers.

The library door opened and Nagihiko strolled out. "Yo," he said, smirking. The teachers looked at each other, taking this as a sign that the session did not go well. Sanjou held out her hand and Nikaido as well as Kairi grudgingly handed it over. Still, Ikuto's therapist could get in an objection first.

Since Nagihiko was blocking the door and Ikuto was in a bad mood, the Stray shoved his shoulder hard as he pushed past the younger boy. Nagihiko gave him a sunny smile.

"Something wrong, Tsukiyomi?" he asked.

"What do you think?" he snarled.

Nagihiko's eyes narrowed. "Are you looking for a fight?" he said dangerously.

"Your words, not mine," he replied.

"Bring it on."

"Glad -"

Nikaido coughed loudly. Sanjou really had to admire the effect that always had on the students, Power or not. It was one of the reasons she bothered to bring him along with her.

"Look; we're having a small break now. The Captain and Sanjou-sensei will take you back to base once the other Powers get here," he explained.

"Base?" inquired Nagihiko as if he weren't preparing to get into another fight just then.

"Room 9," the teacher expanded.

Rima was next to exit. "Walking is so tiring," she commented.

"Poor Princess," Nagihiko sneered.

"That was _so_ lame," moaned Yaya, walking past the blonde.

"You actually have a point there, Witch," said Kukai, exiting as well. "Everything was 'Souma-san' this, 'Souma-san' that and 'pressure' this and 'teenage boy' that. That woman was a broken record!"

"You hit on her though, didn't you?" came Utau's voice. "It's disgusting the way you flirt with anything with breasts," she said haughtily.

"Too bad for you, I wouldn't go anywhere near you even if you were the last woman on Earth," he replied.

"Thank the lords. If I'd had something as disgusting as you chasing after me, my popularity would take a huge blow."

"You know what else is huge -"

Yaya gave a shriek. "Ugh! Don't even _go_ there! Ew! Ew! Yuck! That is _not_ an image I want to... yuck! Disgusting!" She kept gagging dramatically.

"Yeah, keep it in your pants, Chicken," said Nagihiko, wincing slightly.

Tadase halted in his tracks as he heard that, making a face. "I don't even want to _know_ what that means," he said.

"Move it," Amu said from behind him, not deigning to reach out and push him.

"Why are you so aggressive?" he demanded, almost shouting. She shrugged.

"Alright!" yelled Nikaido. "Since you're all out, follow Sanjou-sensei and the Captain to Room 9 for a little break."

"Yeah, that was back-breaking work," said Nagihiko without a trace of sarcasm. All he'd done was sit there, playing with a basketball and enjoying his therapist's fear. Wow, he sounded really quite sick.

"What're you doing, Nikaido-sensei?" inquired Tadase politely.

Nikaido slouched dejectedly, his face growing gloomy. "I'm going to deal with the therapists," he answered. This job fell to him because he lost at coin-tossing while they waited for the therapy sessions to finish.

"Oh. Right. Bye!" Tadase was suddenly in a hurry to get out of there.

The therapists were starting to emerge now. The Powers practically whistled as they were led away.

"That Tsukiyomi boy is a... he's... I demand that I get somebody else! Anybody else!" The man, in his distress, started to rub his bald spot. Nikaido fought to keep his expression neutral. At least he'd managed to make thirty dollars, since both Kairi and Sanjou would have to pay and he'd lost ten on Sanjou's bet.

"I-I would like to swap, too!" cried the skinny man that had been Nagihiko's therapist. "Th-that child is a-a menace!"

"At least they didn't try to keep asking you out for dinner and using innuendo's instead of answering your questions!"

"The Phoenix," Nikaido guessed, sighing.

"They all just lie!" said Utau's therapist angrily. "I'm sorry, but I don't think I can stay with the singer."

"That blond boy just avoids everything. I couldn't get a single thing out of him," said the other woman. "Actually, he's found out quite a bit about me!"

"Mine... she just kept crying!" one of them wailed miserably.

Nikaido frowned. "Which one?" he asked. None of the female Powers ever cried that he knew of.

"Rima Mashiro!"

"Oh, you wimp," said Kukai's therapist. "You're pathetic, not being able to handle some tears."

"You take her then!"

"I will!"

"I refuse to keep Tsukiyomi," piped up the first therapist.

"What'd _he_ do?" said Amu's therapist.

"He is..."

Nikaido stood up, giving them all an apologetic smile. "I'll leave everything up to you, shall I? Next time you come, I expect you all to be sorted out about who you want to take! And no more switching from then on, okay? Alright then, goodbye!" he said quickly, rushing off after the Powers.

They all stared after him.

"At least were not those two teachers," said Utau's therapist.

"True," all the rest agreed.

~*~

**A/N: **I think the title gives a completely different impression than I wanted about what happened after the therapy sessions... It sounds so... foreboding or something. Anyhow, I hope you've enjoyed the other half!


	12. A Friendly Game

**A/N:** Here we go, another part! And I can't believe that just last chapter we were celebrating 'over 100' and now we're already 'over 150'. It's insane! Anyhow, I think that some credit for this idea has to go to a conversation with wolfgirlnowandforever involving sport, PE teachers and their inflicting worldwide torture through the 'pacer'/'beep' test. Random stuff like this is always inspiring, isn't it? Once again, I hope you enjoy.

~*~

**A Friendly Game... Yeah Right!**

"Alright," said Sanjou in an authoritative tone. "You can eat your lunch now."

"Yippee," Kukai cheered unenthusiastically.

Yaya looked around, furrowing her eyebrows when she noticed most of them didn't move to take out any food. "I'm on a diet. What're your excuses?" she asked.

"I didn't have enough time to make it," said Utau. Tadase seemed rather doubtful but since his mouth was full of the food that he'd brought, he decided to refrain from commenting.

Kukai reached over and stole some of the blond boy's lunch, his own one nowhere in sight. "I forgot," he explained, smirking. "I was... _busy_."

"That was mine!" yelled Tadase.

"Oh boohoo; the Prince doesn't have his food," said Nagihiko mockingly. He didn't appear to have brought a meal either. "I ate mine on the way to school."

Rima looked up from her very expensive bento to see Amu's meagre one. "Ah, people of unfortunate financial status are so pitiful," she said condescendingly.

"Can it, Mashiro," snapped Amu. Even so, she was glad that her mother still packed lunch for her every morning and put it next to her breakfast.

"Kitty's being awfully quiet," Kukai complained, looking around.

"That's because he's asleep." Nagihiko jerked a thumb over his shoulder to the dozing form of Ikuto in a back corner.

"I wasn't asking you!" said Kukai with a scowl. "But you just have to butt in on _everything_, don't you?"

"Are you capable of eating in peace?" asked Sanjou, interrupting what would have turned into a rather physical argument. She breathed a quiet sigh of relief when they all sank into a sullen silence.

Kairi, who had been standing watch outside the door, poked his head in. "Nikaido-sensei's back," he commented.

A moment later, Nikaido walked in. As he passed Kairi, however, he reluctantly passed him a fifty dollar note. Sanjou, catching sight of this, scowled. She had lost the most money in their bets even though her prediction had come true. As she also went to pay her nephew the money he'd won, Nikaido addressed the classroom.

"Your next activity is very simple, actually," he confided in them.

"Why do I feel like this is going to be a lot harder than it sounds?" said Yaya flatly.

"Because you're just optimistic like that," answered Nagihiko with a smile.

Nikaido sighed. He should have gotten used to interruptions by now but it was more taxing than he could have imagined to be interrupted every second sentence.

"We think that since you all have so much pent-up aggressive energy, a little sporting activity would do you all good," he proclaimed.

Rima let out a little disbelieving snort. "No," she countered immediately. "I don't do sports."

Utau was the next to object. "You do realise that this means that you're giving those two freaks over there," she pointed at Kukai and Nagihiko, "a huge advantage against those of us with better things to do in our free time than running around after a ball?"

"Don't worry," replied Nikaido. "We don't even have a hockey team at this school."

Kukai burst into laughter then and there. "There's a good reason for that! It's got to be one of the lamest sports there are!"

"All sport is lame," stated Rima. Kukai stopped laughing immediately, instantly giving Rima a death glare. The change was so sudden that it startled everybody in the room.

"What did you say?" he spat.

"Back to the hockey business..." said Nikaido hurriedly.

Kukai ignored him. "Well, _Princess_?"

"Touchy, aren't we?" remarked Utau.

Sanjou finally had enough. "All of you, shut up!" she ordered. "And somebody wake Tsukiyomi up so we can go down to the field."

"But I haven't finished my lunch," protested Rima.

Sanjou placed a hand on Rima's shoulder, carefully noting the way that the young girl looked shocked before covering it up. "Finish it _later_, Mashiro-san," she suggested.

"You don't call Kitty 'Tsukiyomi-san' anymore," observed Kukai. "Has he annoyed you that much?"

"What?" the teacher said blankly. She'd never even noticed herself forgetting to add the '-san' to the end of his surname.

He shrugged, looking away. "We're off to play the sport that's almost as lame as lacrosse," he said boredly.

"I happen to enjoy hockey," snapped Sanjou.

"That's because you're lame," retorted the jock. She looked furious after that last comment. The only reason that she didn't attack was because Nikaido laid a calming hand on her arm. She had to remind herself that she had self-control. Dealing with the Powers was like dealing with the principal... only there were eight of them and she had to stay with them for longer periods of time. Oh joy.

"How come you've never even attempted to flirt with the teacher, Chicken?" asked Amu, a victim of his past antics.

"Are you kidding me?" he said, making a disgusted face. "Do you really think I'd sink that low, Spice?"

Amu looked at him blankly. "Spice?" she said.

He smirked. "What else am I supposed to call you with a stupid nickname like that?"

"Whatever."

-------

It took them a while and many miniature arguments, but the Powers and their shepherds finally managed to arrive at the school oval. Kairi, Nikaido and Tadase had been stuck lugging all the hockey gear with them. The other Powers wouldn't have helped if somebody had pointed a gun to their heads, and the three who were working knew better than to ask Sanjou.

"So what exactly are the rules?" inquired Utau.

"Well," said Sanjou briskly, "there are quite a few rules for this game but since you're all beginners we'll start with the easier ones. First, though, you need to wear the proper gear." Next to her, Nikaido produced some shin-pads from the crate that he had been carrying. They stared at the lumps of plastic, alarm colouring their features. Kairi then threw some sport shoes at those with inappropriate footwear. This basically meant all the girls. Rima backed away from her pair, refusing to even look at the atrocity, let alone wear it.

"Come on, kids. Remember, we have records of your home phone number and your addresses," she threatened them. They complied very, very slowly, trying to draw it out for as long as possible before they had to actually play.

"These shoes are _disgusting_," moaned Yaya. "_Why_ are we actually doing this? It's, like, torture or something." Even as she said this, though, she was taking off the little high-heels she wore when she didn't have cheerleading practice. Then she looked at Rima. "What the heck is _your_ problem?"

The blonde girl was only standing there; staring at the footwear she had been issued. Admittedly, this was an improvement from before. At Yaya's question, she looked up. "I need somebody to help me with the shoes," she explained.

The Powers stared at her in amazement. Even now she had the nerve to act so high and mighty and so maddeningly _helpless_. Nagihiko, who had already donned the shin-pads and had been taking a look at the bright orange and almost weightless balls that they were going to be using, threw one at her head. It connected, causing Rima to lose her cool for once and look outraged.

There were sniggers from the others and a cluck of disapproval from Tadase although he didn't move to do anything about it. Rima clenched her fist and sent the deadliest glare she could muster at him. It was wasted on the unrepentant teenager.

Utau, having finally finished putting on the shoes, straightened. "Come on you little dwarf, just put on the freakin' shoes already. Or don't you know how to tie shoelaces?"

For the first time ever, they saw a tinge of pink on her cheeks. "Oh shut up, Pop Wannabe." She had never been hit by anything before. It wasn't like the ball had hurt, but the fact that somebody had _thrown_ something at her... It was enough to force her mask off and she was desperately trying – and failing – to regain it.

Nikaido clapped his hands, looking strangely delighted. "See? I told you: pent-up aggression just waiting to be unleashed."

Kukai smirked. "If you give us the sticks, I'm sure that we will definitely unleash our aggression, starting with Mashiro."

"I hope you're not suggesting that we would actually use the sticks to harm one another!" protested a shocked Tadase. "That..."

"Sounds fun," said Yaya spitefully.

Nagihiko shrugged. "I think it would be wasted on little Goldilocks," he smirked.

"Are you implying something about blondes?" asked Utau in a dangerously low voice.

"The rules," interrupted Sanjou forcefully for the hundredth time that day, "are simple. If you purposefully hit somebody else with your stick or anything else, then it's a foul and the other team will get a free shot at the goal, with only the goalkeeper to block." This was a rule that Sanjou was determined to prevent the Powers from breaking. It would be one of the most tempting, she knew. "If the ball touches your foot, then the other team receives the ball at that location." This one was more orthodox.

Ikuto yawned, still sleepy. He was sitting comfortably on the grass, leaning back onto his hands.

"If the ball goes out of the field, the other team gets it," she continued. "This is not golf; you're supposed to push the ball along with the hockey stick, not swing at it. Which brings us to our next agenda," she said, motioning to Nikaido.

"There's more?" Kukai groaned. The teachers ignored him, having found that it was usually the best way to deal with the smart-aleck comments that the Powers made.

Nikaido handed Sanjou a hockey stick and she used it to demonstrate her next instruction. "Your left hand holds the stick near the top, your thumb going _underneath_. The lower your right hand is, the more control you have," she said.

"Are you a PE teacher or something?" asked Kukai, wondering why she sounded so certain.

"No," she said curtly. "Take over," she ordered Nikaido, who looked surprised. Then he realised what there was left to teach. He sighed and took the stick from Sanjou.

"If you find that you have a sore back after a while, that's because your stance is incorrect," he said tiredly. "You will probably be tempted to bend over so that you can hit the ball, but that strains your back. What you're _supposed_ to do is squat a little so that your back is still straight." He squatted to the amusement of the teenagers. It wasn't the most dignified position to be in, that was for certain.

"All three of us will be your referees," announced Sanjou. "Especially since we feel that you'll try to cheat as much as you think can get away with."

"Okay, the teams are: Souma, Hoshina, Tsukiyomi and Fujisaki..." Nikaido pointed at them.

There was a chorus of boos and complaints. "That is _not_ fair! How can you put _both_ the sporty ones on the same team?" Yaya said loudly.

"It would be a rather uneven match in terms of skill," reasoned Tadase. Rima gave him a look that said very clearly that she was very unimpressed at the politeness of his tone.

"Okay, fine. Mashiro and Fujisaki, swap teams," he sighed.

"Ah great, we've got the useless doll," muttered Ikuto, who was beginning to become more aware. If Rima had still been wearing her own shoes; the ones with a rather pointy heel, she would have stomped down hard on Ikuto's foot. If she'd tried that, Ikuto would probably have swept her legs from under her instead, so it was quite fortunate that she wasn't wearing those heels.

"Choose your goalie," Nikaido told them. None of the Powers moved, causing him to sigh. "Alright, Tsukiyomi, you're the goalie for your team and Yuiki's the goalie for the other one. I'm going to place the ball in the centre of the field and when I blow the whistle, you have to try and get it for your team." He placed the aforementioned whistle at his lips and blew.

This is how the hockey game began. It was Ikuto, Utau, Kukai and Rima versus Nagihiko, Tadase, Amu and Yaya. Needless to say, this would be one heck of an activity.

_~*~_

**Shameless self-advertising:** I have a little one-shot coming up about the same time as this, revolving around Kairi and Yuu. It's Yuukari. Since I rather like this one-sot of mine, I'm just informing you readers here that I have written such a thing. I don't mind whether you want to read it or not, because I'm aware that Yuukari isn't exactly the most poplular couple in the world. :)


	13. Hockey

**A/N:** Here's the next installment! Unfortunately, I don't have the time to reply to your reviews or PMs right now and I'll get around to them as soon as I can. Just know that they're all much appreciated!

~*~

**Hockey**

The game began with Ikuto standing casually at one end of the field and Yaya looking at her fingernails from the other. Kukai and Nagihiko eyed each other, disregarding all the other Powers as non-threatening. Nikaido had known that blowing the whistle would be a bad idea but Sanjou could be very _persuasive_ at times. A few methods she utilised to 'persuade' people included blackmail, death-threats, physical violence and verbal abuse. So, despite his reservations, Nikaido had raised the silver whistle to his lips and signalled the start of this game.

The moment he did, he regretted it.

There was a loud clack as Kukai and Nagihiko's hockey sticks collided in an attempt to gain control over the ball when Kukai was unexpectedly shoved aside... by his own team member. Utau's level of aggressiveness was alarming, which could have been the reason that Nagihiko seemed to pause for an instant – long enough for her to push the ball past him and onto their side of the field. Kukai gaped after her.

"What the heck are you shoving _me_ for?" asked Kukai indignantly. Tadase, deciding to actually try and play a fair game, readied himself to meet the charging girl. There was another loud crack as their sticks met, but since he missed the ball, it rolled off to the side and they started to fight for possession.

Sanjou, Nikaido and Kairi were watching them intently to make sure that they didn't manage to kill each other or break any rules in the process. This would turn out to be a mistake. They realised this the moment they heard Kukai's yelp of surprise. Immediately their heads swivelled back to see him scowling at Rima who was nonchalantly looking the other way.

"Why are you hitting _me_? Are you girls all _crazy_?" he exclaimed in frustration.

"What are you talking about?" she inquired politely, looking at him as though he were a moron. "Hit you? Why would I do that?" His mouth opened and closed several times as he gave her the evil eye.

Utau had sensed their referees' momentary distraction and used this opportunity to trip Tadase. As he landed on the ground, the usually calm boy felt his blood boil. He'd had enough of the Powers _tripping_ him all the time. He pushed himself up determinedly, his ruby eyes blazing just as much as Utau's violet ones. Her attempt at the goal failed, however, as Nagihiko had caught up and blocked her. He sent her an apologetic smile and wacked her stick with enough force to cause her to almost drop it.

Ikuto, who had been watching lazily until now, straightened as he noticed Tadase's more hostile demeanour. That was certainly interesting. He looked at the renowned Phoenix, who was still arguing with Rima about her sharp jab at his ribs using the stick, and said casually, "Snake's comin' right at you with the ball, you know." He sniggered as Kukai's head jerked up and he rushed to stop the purple-haired boy.

Considering that this was their first time playing the game, the next bit was impressive. Nagihiko feinted swiftly, pretending to go to the right before quickly nudging the ball to the left. Kukai somehow managed to see through it, acquire the ball. It was, therefore, unfortunate that he accidentally used too much strength and hit it past Nagihiko, out of reach of both of them. Tadase was the next to get to the ball and pushed it along the ground, toward Ikuto.

Once again, the teachers and the Captain were focused on the Powers around the ball, leaving the others unsupervised. Utau, for example, was still lagging up at the other team's goal: the goal where Yaya was supposed to defend.

"Leaving it to the boys, Hoshina?" sneered Yaya.

"Comfortable not having to move anywhere, _Witch_?"

Both of them glanced at the referees whose focus was drawn away from them before turning back to glare at each other. They were getting ready to start another fight when Amu stepped in between them, wearing her trademark expression of boredom.

"What do _you_ want, Hinamori?" spat Yaya.

"They're coming back up this way," she commented, pointing at the boys who were indeed running towards them, the ball in Kukai's possession. Apparently, Tadase had tried to score and missed, much to Nagihiko's displeasure. He showed it by smiling, telling Tadase that it was fine and that he'd tried his best, and giving him a hard thump on the back. Tadase then proceeded to double over and cough as he recovered from the hit. Since they were on the same team anyhow, Nikaido and Sanjou were at a loss at how they were supposed to deal with it. In the end, they ignored it. After a kick-in by Ikuto to Kukai, the game had continued.

He was barely keeping ahead of Nagihiko and Tadase was trailing behind the two, unable to keep up. Amu made a half-hearted attempt to block Kukai which he easily dodged. Yaya gingerly raised her stick but, in the end, never had to use it. Like in Tadase's attempt, the ball shot off the mark, missing the goal by inches.

"What kind of sports star are you?" scoffed Utau. "How could you _miss_?"

He glared at her. "I'd like to see you try. Or would you be too busy standing here and chatting to the Witch?" he challenged.

Amu and Yaya were watching them, amused. Naturally, Amu did her best to hide it and Yaya merely snorted and kept quiet. Nagihiko and Tadase had taken off down the field the moment Yaya had thrown the ball back in and were almost at Ikuto already. They were heading for a certain short, blonde girl who hadn't moved more than ten steps through the entire game. Kukai and Utau had been too busy fighting that they hadn't even noticed until Kukai sensed something wrong and looked around, causing Utau to do so as well. She bit her lip, smacked him on the head and ran.

Kukai rubbed his head, scowling. He made no move to hurry, fully aware that he wouldn't make it in time to do anything, anyhow.

Tadase had been the one with the ball, quickly heading down the field. Apparently Nagihiko felt that he wasn't being quick enough as the Snake used his stick to trip Tadase again and stealing the ball away from him. Sanjou grit her teeth as she watched the Powers play. They had absolutely no concept of teamwork.

Nagihiko aimed carefully, aware of the last two failed attempts at scoring, and swung his stick. Ikuto watched it pass through the goal without moving a muscle to try and stop it from doing so. Then Utau finally arrived on the scene, out of breath.

"What's wrong?" asked Nagihiko. "Is the lifestyle of a rich, pop singer starting to catch up to you?"

She focused a deadly gaze on him. "Are you... by any chance... calling me _fat_?" she said dangerously. Tadase, slowly getting off the ground which had become his very intimate friend after the last few days, thought that she rather resembled Sanjou in that moment.

"_Back_ to the middle, everybody," Nikaido butted in, hoping that for once, the Powers would cooperate and avoid another scene.

The whistle blew. Nagihiko was the first to take the ball, but Kukai managed to retrieve it from him and headed up the field. It was shortly stolen by Utau, jostling him again just for good measure. He stared after her incredulously, peeved. When Yaya saw that it was Utau charging up, she narrowed her eyes and got a firmer grip on her stick.

Utau tried a shot. It had been a good hit – the ball was accurate and flying fast. Unfortunately, since Yaya was actually concentrating, she managed to block it with the reflexes of a gymnast. Being a cheerleader who was actually proficient at dancing was a definite advantage.

Kukai snorted but decided to concentrate on the game this time rather than throwing her a smug comment. Nagihiko had the ball again and tried to score, but this time Ikuto lazily blocked the ball's passage with his foot and kicked it back in again. Nagihiko went for it at the same time that Kukai did, and their sticks clashed, cancelling each other out. That left Tadase to hit the ball again in another effort to score.

Ikuto gave him a small smirk and hit the ball back into the middle without much of an effort. None of them had time to process the fact that Ikuto had seemed to come out of his foul mood all of a sudden. There was a flurry of movement...

...and both Kukai and Nagihiko ended up on the ground, the ball bouncing away from them.

Kukai rubbed his arm gingerly, having had come down badly on it, and cried, "He bashed into me!"

"Yeah right," mocked Nagihiko. "_You_ slammed into _me_," he claimed. Nagihiko had landed on his back, the wind knocked out of him.

"Stop lying, _Snake_," snapped Kukai, standing up. He, like Tadase, had had enough of the other Powers pushing and shoving him.

"Are you calling me a liar, _Chicken_?" said the still-smiling Nagihiko, also getting to his feet. All the Powers knew that he was a liar, and they knew that he would have had no problem with the fact if it wasn't another Power yelling it out. It was a matter of principal.

"What do you think? You did _shove_ me." Kukai pushed him forcefully on the word to emphasise his point.

Nagihiko shoved him back. "I never _touched_ you," he announced pleasantly.

Words were forgotten by that point and it dissolved into a brawl. The Powers not involved only looked on with mild interest as they fought each other.

Sanjou glared at all the Powers. "Stop them," she ordered, "or else I _will_ contact _every single one_ of your parents."

Their jaws dropped at the complete injustice in that threat. They knew from the steel in her eyes that she would gladly carry it out, though.

Utau sighed as she looked around at the other powers who were eying the fighting duo warily. Probably the only person that could take them on was Ikuto but he was much too lazy to risk it. She pulled up her sleeves and marched over, reached into the tangle of limbs, and pulled.

"Ow!" Kukai yelped as he felt a hand roughly grab onto his ear and pull it up. He had no choice but to follow or lose it so he disengaged from the other boy and hopped away with her, wincing in pain all the while. "Hey, let go, you _bitch_," he said angrily.

"Say that again, A-hole?" she dared, tugging on his ear even harder.

"Swear jar!" said Nikaido, rummaging through the equipment they had brought before bringing up an empty, plastic jar.

Utau let his ear go and turned to him with an irritated expression. "What?" she asked. Kukai was too busy rubbing his ear to turn around.

"Swear jar," Nikaido repeated. "If you all swear, you have to either put in some money immediately or become janitor for an afternoon." He sighed as all of them tried to remember that conversation in vain. "Just put money in, Souma-san. You too, Hoshina-san."

"What? But I didn't even swear! All I said was 'A-hole'!" she protested.

"Which was obviously a very thin cover for a derogatory term," interjected Sanjou.

Utau folded her arms and said, "It could have meant anything from 'there's _a hole_ in the ground' to 'there's _a whole_ lot of grass out here'." She decided to plainly give up on the desperate attempts to avoid the swear jar when she saw Sanjou's face.

Kukai glowered at Nikaido, who shook the jar slightly in return. "I don't have any money on me," he grumbled.

"Hoshina-san?" prodded Sanjou.

"Me neither," she replied quietly.

"In that case, you're both in for janitorial duties this afternoon," Nikaido sighed. "Show up or your parents will be notified."

"Parents, parents, parents. The threat is getting old," Utau complained.

Nikaido decided to ignore that statement. If it still worked then they would use it to its fullest. "Alright, let's continue on with the game, shall we?" he asked with a smile. They groaned.

"Do we have a choice?" asked Amu.

"Nope," he answered confidently. The Powers glared at him. "Hey, don't blame me; you got yourselves into the mess by being how you are. That _includes_ you, Hotori-san," he added quickly, before the boy could say anything.

"Alright, everybody up: we still have more time," he said. Nikaido just hoped that they would stop hitting their teammates just because they weren't allowed to hit people on the opposing team. All this hatred stemmed from the fact that the other person simply was another Power. This took discrimination to a new level, surely.

He raised the whistle to his lips once more, and blew.

~*~

**A/N:** Yep, you guessed it. Next part contains Kutau... or the beginnings of it at least. Finally, some romance!


	14. Cleaning Up

**A/N:** Finally, here's the next part. Hooray for Kutau! There's not really much romance in this, just the hints of it. Kinda. Maybe... Lastly, thank you all for the amount of reviews (that I rather doubt I deserve) and for the patience required in dealing with me and this story. I hope you can keep it up!

~*~

**Cleaning Up**

Sanjou groaned as she sank gratefully down into her chair, peeling a banana and biting into it. After they had resumed the hockey game the Powers had done everything that they could to hinder the others: including the people on their own team. They had openly hit their teammates, hit the opposition while the teachers weren't looking, harassed each other, falsely claimed that the other Powers had broken one of the rules or 'accidentally' hit somebody else instead of the ball as they swung. Finally, she and Nikaido had decided to call it a day.

The Powers had dispersed, making their way back home or wherever else they went to terrorise the citizens of the city. That is, the Powers minus Utau and Kukai who were standing in front of her, looking impatient and tired.

Sanjou yawned and said, "Once the janitors arrive, you're in their care. Nikaido-sensei and I will head out, but this does not mean that you can just run amok again. If you mess up badly, I _will_ hear about it and your parents..."

"Will be notified," finished Utau in exasperation. "Yeah, you've said."

There was a knock on the door. Nikaido opened it to reveal a stern-faced, heavy-set, middle-aged woman with a no-nonsense air about her. Both the woman and the teens remained unimpressed with what they saw, dismissing the other.

"This is the janitor that will be overseeing your work," said Nikaido cheerfully. He was looking forward to going home and not having to deal with the Powers for the rest of the afternoon, evening, night and early morning. There was no limit to how much the very thought cheered him up. He gave a startled jump when the janitor started speaking in a booming voice, interrupting his thoughts.

"You will refer to me as Malia-san. You will do as you are told. You will report to me the _moment_ you finish what you are told to do. If you are prompt and efficient, I will assign you simple tasks. If you do not, I will assign you backbreaking work _and_ notify your teacher. You will come to me if you have an inquiry. You will not _attempt_ to undermine my authority or to sabotage your fellow..." she sneered at this point, "_Power_. Any questions?"

Kukai raised his arm, receiving a curt nod as permission to continue. "Yeah, um... are you a guy or do you just look like one?" he asked innocently. Utau snorted despite herself at the absolutely livid look on the janitor's face.

"For your first task, you will be restoring _all_ the rooms to their original condition," she ordered ominously. "I will be supervising you for the first few rooms. After that, you will come to me after you have finished restoring the rooms and I will inspect it while you move on to the next one. I will sporadically check on your progress so do _not_ slouch off. You will clean all the rooms starting from here in a clockwise direction. This means that the last room you should have to clean will be the art rooms. Good luck," she added rather nastily.

"Nazi," Utau muttered under her breath. Fortunately for her, the janitor didn't hear.

"Hurry up and reorganise the tables," she snapped, gesturing at the furniture strewn everywhere.

"Yes ma'am," said Kukai, mock-saluting.

Utau scowled. "Great. They're making me, a rising pop star, move _tables._ How messed up is that?"

"Oh boohoo," spat Kukai. "Doing some physical labour isn't going to kill you."

"And what do you call that frigging game of hockey?"

"That wasn't labour; that was a _warm-up_. Or perhaps you're merely too... unfit to tell the difference?" suggested Kukai.

She glared daggers in return. "Did you just... call me _fat_?" she asked dangerously.

"Your words, not mine," he answered viciously, paying her back for his throbbing ear.

"_Get on with it, you dimwits!_" yelled the janitor. The two looked back to see that the teachers had quietly sneaked out and left her to deal with them alone. They rolled their eyes, cursing softly under their breath. This gave a whole new meaning to cruel and unusual punishment.

-------

Tadase smiled tolerantly at the tearful faces of his fangirls.

"Tadase-kun~!" they wailed dramatically.

"Yes?" he replied, wincing from the volume of their screeches.

"I can't _believe_ that they would group you together with those other _awful_ Powers!" said one of the bolder girls. "You don't _deserve_ this treatment! I mean, you're so _kind_ and _gentle_ and _mature_ and _sweet_ and _cute_ whereas the other Powers are, like, so _immature_ and _spiteful_ and _selfish_ and _spoiled_," she exclaimed. The amount of italics in her speech was starting to give Tadase a headache.

"Don't worry about it; there's just a few more weeks and then they'll be pretty much out of my hair," he said in an effort to get her to stop talking. Instead, she seemed to grow even more enthusiastic.

"See? You are _so mature_, not like those _other_ Powers. And you are _so understanding_ and _patient_ and the _nicest_ person in the _entire_ _world_, _ever_! That's why I love you, Tadase-kun!" she screeched. The other girls in the group yelled in agreement.

"Um... thank you?" he said unsurely, wondering if he'd gone deaf from all the fangirls. The italics girl fainted from joy at his thanks. The other girls caught her and started fanning her.

"T-Tadase-kun!" another girl piped up nervously. "I-I need to... ask you something!"

He flashed her a small smile, causing her to blush deeply. At least it didn't seem like she was going to abuse her words by over-emphasising them. Granted, the stutter was rather annoying but it didn't affect him as much.

"Y-you know that there's a f-festival dance thing c-coming up? Well, I-I was wondering if... maybe..." She stopped talking when she felt a black aura suddenly descend over the group. They were all glaring at her, daring her to continue with her train of thought.

"I'm sorry," said Tadase kindly. "I never really go to the dance or festival with anybody."

"Oh," she said quietly, blushing again and shrinking back into the crowd.

"I'm sorry ladies, but I think you should leave now. I have to go home," he said apologetically.

"He called us ladies! He thinks I'm a lady!" they echoed dreamily, sighing.

"That's _not_ a good thing you know," came the voice of a certain Ice Princess. She was being carried again by her devoted fanboys. She stared at the fangirls coolly, not the slightest bit bothered by the amount of enmity directed her way, pushing on regardless. "Calling somebody a 'lady' could be considered a very _condescending_ thing to do. It implies obedience, gentleness, fragility and, frankly, stupidity."

"Whatever," said one of his fangirls, "Tadase-kun would never mean to say anything negative towards us," she said confidently. "He's a gentleman. He's _manly_."

Rima lifted an eyebrow. "You know," she said, her voice tinted with the slightest hint of amusement, "you precious, '_manly_' _Tadase-kun_ is a cry-baby? He cried today," she told them smugly.

"Like anybody would believe what _you_ say."

"Ask him," she suggested. "Let's see if he's a liar as well."

"I really have to go home now. See you tomorrow everyone!" he said hurriedly, rushing off with a wave of goodbye.

"Pathetic," Rima ridiculed. The fangirls bristled indignantly but they didn't have a chance to refute that statement before Rima signalled for the fanboys to keep going. They were left glaring darkly in the blonde's wake.

-------

Utau growled in frustration as she scrubbed at the blackboard. Specifically, she was scrubbing at a scribble that stated 'HOSHINA SUX'. No matter how hard she scoured it, the markings just _wouldn't_ come _off_. There were plenty of other, more easily washed-off markings on the board but as far as she was concerned, this one was top priority.

"Ugh, spit balls," cried out a disgusted Kukai from the other side of the room. "And how much gum can one class _chew_?"

"Oh shut up, Chicken," she snarled. "You've been whining non-stop for the past half-hour!"

"And why shouldn't I?" he argued back. "_I_ get stuck with picking up whatever they'd decided to throw at the teacher or each other and moving the furniture while you just stay at the blackboard the whole time and cleaning it. How long can it take?"

"They use _permanent_ markers because they aren't stupid enough to just use chalk," she said. "No matter what you do, they just stay on there. Picking up trash and moving a few chairs? That's the _easy_ part."

"Then you come and do it if it's so easy," he spat.

"Gladly," she shot back.

"Fine."

"Fine."

-------

"_What_?" sputtered Nikaido as he looked over the sheet of paper. "You're going to make the Powers do... are you out of your _mind_?" He quickly shut up as he caught sight of Sanjou's stony expression.

"It's perfect. It will teach them to follow the rules and to have patience," she explained.

"But... have you thought about what could _happen_? Please consider the possible repercussions," he pleaded.

She crossed her arms with an air of finality. "I've made up my mind."

"Fine, but if this ends up with somebody dead, it's your fault," he warned her.

"Don't be so dramatic," she said, smacking his head.

"I'm not _being_ dramatic. I'm being completely serious."

"Right," she said doubtfully. "Sure."

-------

Every single room had been an utter mess. _Every single room_ had looked like some kind of war zone. And it had been obvious that the Powers had somehow been the cause of it, even though none of them had actually been present in any of the classrooms that day. Sure, they'd known that it happened, but they'd never had to _clean _it before. Thankfully, they were on the very last room after many yells and disagreements and the urge to strangle each other. Finally, after expending a huge amount of energy trying to annoy the heck out of each other, they'd settled for a heavy silence in which they tried to clean up quickly so that they could actually head home. Or, at least, away from the cursed group of buildings that made up the pitiful excuse for a school.

The last room happened to be the art room. None of the supplies had been packed up, leaving blotches of drying paint on the tables, used brushes scattered everywhere and sponges in the strangest places.

"I'll gather the brushes and paint and other stuff, you wipe down the tables and floors," ordered Utau, heading off to do as she just said.

Kukai frowned and crossed his arms in defiance. "No, _you_ clean the tables and _I'll_ put all the paint and brushes away," he said stoutly.

"What's the difference?" she asked, tightening her pigtails. He shrugged, causing her temple to throb. "Fine! You gather the stupid paint things and I'll wipe the tables! Happy?"

"Ecstatic," he replied unenthusiastically.

Utau picked up a random sponge which was, for some reason, placed at the blackboard much like a duster would have been. She rinsed it and started to clean the marks. When she came across a strip of paint that wouldn't go away, she was reminded of the comment about her that had been scribbled on a blackboard somewhere else. She glared at it before simply moving on. at least the paint didn't spell out any words that insulted her specifically. If something on the tables blocked her way, she merely shoved them to one side, not caring whether some kid's class project was scratched or not.

They continued in silence. It was a pretty good silence in which both the people holding it were occupied with something else. It was, therefore, a bad thing when the silence was broken by the unmistakeable clatter of a tin can full of thick liquid clattering on the floor. Kukai had turned too quickly and had heedlessly knocked it off its place on the shelf. Utau stared at the pooling green paint in disbelief.

"I didn't do it," was Kukai's immediate response. It was a knee-jerk reaction; he hadn't purposely tried to be funny.

The silence came back with a vengeance. The paint was still slowly spreading outwards.

"I'm not cleaning that up," stated Utau flatly.

Kukai snorted. "Yeah right; you're a closet goody-goody."

"Excuse me?" she said in disbelief. "I'm a 'goody-goody'? Is there something wrong with your head? Where did you get _that_ idea from?"

"Why else would you have done everything _they_ told you to?" he retorted. "You don't want to get in trouble. Therefore, you are a goody-goody." He turned away from the paint and strolled nonchalantly away from it.

"You've done everything they told you to as well," she pointed out.

He shrugged. "Whatever. You still wouldn't dare leaving that there for the man-lady to find," he challenged. The 'man-lady' was the janitor, of course.

She narrowed her eyes at the tone of his voice. "Oh yeah? You think so?"

"I don't _think_ so; I _know_ so," he answered, smirking.

Without taking her eyes off of him, she reached for an open can of blue paint on a bench and tilted it threateningly. "You _know_ so, huh?" She rocked it back and forth gently.

"You're bluffing," he said confidently. When the can of paint crashed down to the floor, spilling its contents everywhere, he was impressed.

"Bluffing, huh?" she placed her hands on her hips. "Shows what you know."

Kukai grinned and reached for one of the brushes he'd been packing up, dipping it into the green paint and wrote on a table in large capitals, HOSHINA SUX.

Then he underlined it.

He wasn't prepared for a sponge dunked in red paint to be thrown at him, though. It landed with a squelch on his sports jersey. It was his turn to look outraged. To pay her back, he flicked the brush at her. Instinctively, she raised her arms to protect her face so the green pain splattered onto her designer black sleeves, leaving a very visible mark.

She screeched when she saw it. "Do you know how much this had _cost_?"

"Do I look like I care?" he countered.

She growled, reaching for another sponge and a can of purple paint. She dunked it in and threw it. However, she wasn't the best marksman in the world so it missed its target by several inches, landing wetly on the window. As another sponge, this time dipped in orange paint, came flying her way, she ducked. It flew overhead and collided with another can of paint, spilling it all over the floor. Some of the yellow spilled onto her heels. The furious Utau stalked up to the laughing Kukai and dumped a can full of white paint over his head. She smiled delightedly as she watched him sputter and try to wipe it off his face. He tried to do the same to her but missed her head. Instead, the majority of the brown paint splashed onto her clothes. Kukai laughed so hard that he was clutching at his sides.

"Is something wrong? You look like crap... literally!" he exclaimed, finding himself hilarious. The pop idol was so far past furious that she was calm now. Giving a smile eerily reminiscent of Nagihiko, she lunged at him with a paintbrush dipped in purple. While he tried to recover from the shock of having her assault him with a paintbrush, she wrote LOSER on the parts of his jersey that was still relatively clean and clear.

And, for the first time in years, she laughed as if she didn't have a care in the world.

For the first time in years, he did too.

~*~

**A/N:** Wow, that was a really cheesy ending. Anyhow, have I somewhat satisfied all you Kutau fans out there?


	15. Being a Gentleman?

**A/N:** Sorry for the slight delay. I kinda lost the portable drive in which the story had been saved, so I was panicking for a little while. I found it again, though! I'll reply to all the reviews... in a while. ^^' I'm really behind in a lot of things. And I'm pretty sure that this is _the_ shortest part I have yet. Sorry!

**200 Reviews!** Thank all of you guys so much for your support! I appreciate every single one of your reviews... even though I sometimes don't reply to them on time... Heh. We still have so much of the story left to tell... man there're gonna be so many chapters...

~*~

**Being a Gentleman...?**

Once – just _once_ – Sanjou would like to come to school calmly, without rage. Unfortunately, that seemed rather impossible in her current situation. She emitted such a murderous aura that Nikaido hadn't dared venture anywhere near her in case she decided to sate her thirst for blood by ripping his throat out.

At least _all_ of the Powers, even Ikuto, had gotten there on time that morning... not that it helped her temper any. She narrowed her eyes and stalked up to both Utau and Kukai, dragging them roughly by their arms to the front of the group. The rest of them stopped loafing around and avoiding each other to watch whatever was going to happen next. It didn't look good so it would be entertaining one way or another.

"Would you care to explain?" said Sanjou through gritted teeth. Her grip on their arms tightened fractionally.

"Explain what?" retorted Kukai, honestly confused. He'd forgotten everything about the day before, having been... kept up until late the night before.

"_The art rooms_," the teacher growled fiercely. Enlightenment finally dawned on him although he covered it up masterfully. When neither of them answered to either confirm or deny anything, she roughly let go of them. "That's _it_. I'm calling your parents or whatever. You have gone _far enough_. Nikaido!" she barked, "What are the contact numbers for Hoshina and Souma?"

Nikaido hastily started to fumble through his notes, trying to find the all-important piece of paper before she decided to turn on him. "They're in here somewhere..."

Kukai glanced at Utau. If he hadn't known better, he would have thought that she was unperturbed by the entire thing - but he could see the flicker of fear and anxiety in her eyes.

Nikaido emerged from the extraordinarily large pile of papers with a triumphant shout. "Ah! I found -"

"I did it," announced Kukai, smirking. The teachers stared at him.

"Huh?" chorused everybody present.

"I trashed the art rooms yesterday after Hoshina left," he said smugly.

Sanjou was too shocked to be angry. Never, in the history of the school, had any one of the Powers ever confessed to anything. This was... momentous. This made Sanjou hope that, perhaps, the time they were spending stuck with the Powers was actually having an effect.

Utau was nonplussed. "Wait, hang on..." she protested. He can't do that! Somehow letting him take all the blame when he _wanted _to do so made her feel like she was letting him win. And Utau Hoshina _never_ let anybody else win.

"I'm your culprit," he interrupted cheerfully, aware that he was starting to invoke Utau's anger and irritation.

"You're not -"

"I remember that I accidentally smashed into the paint shelves," he said over her.

"But you didn't..."

"And, since, I really couldn't be stuffed cleaning it up, I thought I'd have some fun," he went on. In the corner of his eye, he saw Utau scowl.

"Why the hell are you...?" She was getting _really _frustrated by this point.

Kukai was really having fun messing around with Utau's head. "So the Idol didn't do any of it."

"Stop talking over -" Her fingers itched to wrap themselves around his throat. The other Powers looked on in amusement. It wasn't everyday that you saw a pop idol wanting to confess to rule-breaking.

"Besides," he added gleefully, "Hoshina wouldn't have the guts."

"Oh you are _dead_, Souma! No; you're _fried_, Chicken!" she exclaimed, lunging for him.

"Hoshina!" Nikaido called out in warning. She managed to remember herself and keep from gouging his eyes out.

Sanjou, phone out, waved a threatening finger at all of the teenagers and said, "If any of you so much as _breathe _loudly, I will garrotte you, understood?" She took their lack of protest as an affirmative. With that she snatched the piece of paper with the necessary information on it away from Nikaido and marched into a neighbouring room while Nikaido herded them into Room 9.

"What was that?" sneered Ikuto.

Kukai gave him a look. "It's okay if the Kitty doesn't understand; you should go back to playing with a ball of string."

"Or get stuffed on a cocky chicken," he threw back.

Yaya made a disdainful noise. "Was the legendary _Phoenix_ trying to be a _gentleman_?" She was blowing pink bubbles again. Nobody knew where she kept her seemingly limitless supply of bubble-gum.

Kukai snorted. "As if: Hoshina's just too easy to mess with."

"As if, kid."

Kukai looked at her questioningly. "Kid? I know of quite a few women who would disagree," he said proudly.

"What? You mean those _wh _-"

There was that cough again. It was Nikaido's soft warning to just back off before things got worse. Utau, along with the rest of the Powers, sullenly heeded it.

Rima sighed. "You recently got in trouble for cursing, and almost got in trouble for trouble caused during the punishment of aforementioned cursing and now you were about to curse again? You truly are an idiot."

They stared at her.

"Could you... repeat that?" requested Tadase.

"For those of us with less brainpower than you," added Kukai drily. Rima turned her back on them, plainly refusing.

Ikuto looked thoughtful. "I think it was something about... laundry?" They stared at him.

"You're touched in the head," stated Amu.

"I'm glad you noticed," he said without missing a beat. She blinked. At least he appeared to be in a better mood than he had been the day before. What a moody weirdo.

Nagihiko took advantage of the brief silence that followed by politely asking Nikaido what kind of torture the teachers were planning to inflict on them next.

"It's... a secret," he replied. He was still too much of a coward to be the one to break it to the Powers what they were going to do. No, he was here merely to calm them down. Sanjou, the loud, fiery woman was the one in charge. She was the one with the Captain as a nephew. _She_ could be the one to tell them about the activities. Yes, that sounded like a fantastic solution.

"Why does this feel like the whole therapy thing again?" said Yaya in an uncharacteristically grim tone.

"Oh gods, don't remind me," groaned Kukai. For some reason he glanced over at Utau and quickly looked away when he caught her eye. What the heck was he doing? That was _Flaming Star Hoshina_. Like all the other female Powers, he wouldn't have even considered going anywhere _near_ her of his own free will. Spoiled brats, every last one of them.

With this firm reminder, Kukai happily settled back into hating her with all his might. Old habits and years of thought died hard. Still, there was that part of him which mused over their afternoon trashing the art room...

--+--

_They panted, out of breath. They were so covered in paint by that time that the fact they were sitting in drying puddles of paint didn't even bother them. They'd called a truce long after they'd collapsed from exhaustion, both of them having been too stubborn to give up. Then Utau noticed the lengthening shadows in the room. She bolted upright._

"_What time is it?" she demanded. He frowned, startled at the sudden change in attitude._

"_Why?" he asked._

"_What time is it?" she repeated, even more forcefully._

"_I dunno... about five? Five-thirty?" he hazarded a guess._

"_Crap! You've got to be kidding me!" she yelled in frustration. He thought he saw panic in those usually arrogant eyes of hers. But that couldn't be right, could it?  
_

"_Why? Do you think that mummy's going to be worried?" he joked._

"_Shut it," she snarled, obviously not in the mood. "God, they're going to be..."_

_Kukai pushed himself up, confused by her rather strange behaviour. "What're you getting so stressed out about?"_

"_I'm not stressed out!" she denied ferociously. He stared at her.  
_

"_Right; I can see that. Not stressed out at all. Clearly." Strangely enough, his sarcasm seemed to calm her down slightly. More importantly, the fear was gone. The fear had unnerved him. It had the bite of the shockingly unfamiliar. Then again, it could have been a trick of the light. Utau did look very different when she was splashed in an assortment of colours. Some of them mixed together horribly, too.  
_

"_Whatever, loser. Unlike you, I had places where I was supposed to be," she said. "Previous engagements and the sort. So, because I wasn't there, someone will be... upset." He had a feeling that there was probably something more to that but let it go. He was being paranoid. Besides, why would he care?  
_

"_Famous people tread on famous toes, that kind of thing?" said Kukai, making a rather shrewd guess.  
_

_She regarded him for a moment. "I guess." Then she glared at her clothes again. They were beyond ruined; they had been stripped of anything and everything that made them even remotely a sane choice for clothes wear. She looked like a walking drug-induced hallucination. And her hair was a tangled rainbow monster._

"_You look good," sniggered Kukai who didn't look much better._

"_Sure," she grunted._

"_But nowhere near as good as I do," he grinned. He was as arrogant as she was. It was just that his ego had taken quite a few hits during his time with the other Powers. What kind of person _wouldn't_ be put off with a nickname like that? It was disgraceful. He planned on getting some of his self-assertion back starting from right then.  
_

_Utau gave him a disgusted look and turned to walk away._ "_I kick your ass in looks," she said._

"_Keep dreaming," he answered._

"_I don't have to, Fried Chicken. It's reality." And she quickly headed off before he could say otherwise. Utau had to have the last word. He grinned and decided to flee before anybody caught him at the scene of the crime all by himself._

_And, for a moment, he thought that he might be able to live with a nickname like Fried Chicken... maybe. Or not.  
_

_~*~_

**A/N: **This part seems... a little disjointed, no? Oh well. Oh, and I guess "--+--" is my flashback sign from now on. How... strange.


	16. Between Classrooms

**A/N:** ... I still haven't answered the reviews. I swear that the next chance I get I'm going to spend several hours straight answering them. On my honour as a liar - I mean, um, writer. Anyhow, as an apology I thought that it would be good to have this chapter up relatively early. Enjoy if you can. It's another load of nothing happening really.

~*~

**Between Classrooms**

As the phone rang, she wondered what kind of parents that the Wandering Phoenix had to allow their child to become a rebellious playboy. Were they rich, perhaps? Apparently rich kids had the leverage to do whatever they wished and their parents were usually away. She was sure that was why Rima turned out the way she did. Finally, after an age, somebody picked up.

"_Yo! Souma household; what's up_?" the voice of a young man asked cheerfully. That did not sound like the greeting of somebody from a loaded house.

"Um... I would like to talk to Kukai Souma's parents," she said. There was silence on the other end of the phone for a few moments.

"_...Yeah, wait a moment_," came a more subdued voice. Sanjou heard a distant '_Mom, it's for you! It's... about Kukai_'. Sanjou wondered what that was about. Had the boy done something to make his family avoid even speaking of him?

A female voice interrupted her wonderings "_Hello?_"

"Good morning, Ms Souma. I am a teacher at Kukai's high school and I have to inform you that your son has been..."

-------

Nikaido drummed his fingers on the table, not paying attention to whatever insults the teenagers temporarily under his care were hurling at each other. He still didn't get why they disliked each other so greatly. They were all popular, arrogant people with good looks; you'd think they'd get along. The school would be so much more peaceful then. Nikaido hurried onto his feet when the door opened and a satisfied Sanjou walked through.

"Souma will be punished as his mother sees fit," she declared happily.

"Ah, you've stopped adding '-san' to my name, too," he noted cheerfully, looking completely unconcerned at the prospect. Sanjou, like usual, ignored him.

"Well let's get down there and start, shall we?" She turned and walked briskly down the hallway, not questioning the fact that they would follow. Perhaps that confidence was why they actually did without any complaints or tricks.

On the way to wherever they were going, Tadase asked Nagihiko's earlier question: "What are we going to be doing this morning?"

Sanjou looked surprised. "You mean Nikaido-_sensei_ didn't tell you?" she asked, irritated. Why was she even surprised anymore? "Wuss."

"Did the Demoness just insult her Sidekick?" said a gleeful Yaya.

"Sidekick?" asked Nikaido.

"_Demoness_?" hissed Sanjou, scowling.

Yaya clamped her hands over her mouth, eyes wide. "Uh oh."

"You mean you didn't know what everybody's calling you now?" said Nagihiko with an indulgent smile. "I didn't think that the teachers were _this_ slow."

"You be quiet, Fujisaki!" the teacher snapped.

"No san again," tutted Kukai. Sanjou scowled at him darkly.

"Sidekick...?" muttered a brooding Nikaido who was clearly not paying attention anymore.

"Well, it's better than the other name that was under consideration," consoled Tadase.

"What was that?" he asked. Tadase hesitated so Rima butt in.

"Teacher's Pet," she said in malicious helpfulness. Nikaido sunk further into his depression.

Sanjou crossed her arms. "Who started that nickname, anyway?" she demanded. They looked at her like she was a simpleton.

"Nobody _starts_ these things," explained Ikuto, "they merely... happen. And evolve. And devours you before taking over..."

"That's just a _little_ melodramatic, don't you think?" said Tadase. Ikuto shrugged off-handedly. Of course.

"I bet some of the fans started it," murmured Amu.

"Oh, why didn't we think of that before?" Rima said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "That just narrows it down to... oh; let's see... the _entire school_."

"Hey, we're not conducting an investigation here, Frosty," Ikuto pointed out lazily.

Sanjou abruptly stopped walking which made the powers look forwards to see what was going on. There was another class walking down the hallway. It was the class that Yaya was supposed to be in for that period. As one might have guessed, the Freshmen went wild at the sight of them.

"_Omigod! _It's them!" screamed the class. All the Powers winced at the sheer volume of their combined shouts. What made it even worse was when the doors in the hallway banged open and other classes started pouring out to see what all the fuss was about. Sanjou rubbed her temples and Nikaido fought not to be bowled over by the students.

"Tadase-kun!"

"Mashiro-chan!"

"_Ikuto-sama_~"

It was pure pandemonium. The space was crowded until bursting with the amount of students there. What made it worse was that every student was fighting one another so that they could be the ones at the forefront of the crowd and talk to their favourite Power. The students who'd decided it wasn't worth it ducked back into their room. The teachers who didn't go back were used as punching bags. For once, even the Powers weren't enjoying this. They were swarmed with people all shrieking incoherent things at the top of their lungs and they were pushed and prodded by their overenthusiastic fans.

"I love you, Fujisaki-sempai!"

"Ow!"

"Argh, get off me -"

"Hinamori-chan! I'm your biggest fan -"

"Can't breathe... stop shoving!"

"The Flaming Star is hot!"

"I _said_ get _off_ me!"

"Why didn't you call me back, Kukai?!"

"Hey! Your _foot_ is in my _face_!"

"Move it!"

"Stop _pushing_!"

"Want to go out with me, Yuiki-chan?"

"He's _mine_!"

And finally, predictably, it dissolved into a brawl with the Powers stuck right in the middle. Rima, jostled and pushed by fighting bodies, screamed in a rare display of fear. Nobody heard her above the roars of the students. Tadase tried to swim out but the tide of angry teenagers pushed him back as somebody accidentally elbowed him in the ribs. Yaya was drowning – or, more accurately, suffocating – in the press and couldn't get a sufficient grip from which she could haul herself above the bodies. Fujisaki had punched someone in revenge for one to his shoulder and realised that joining in the brawl probably wasn't the best thing to do. Kukai was too busy dodging any further bruises to even enjoy the sight of a catfight right next to him which he would lament dearly later. Amu would swear that she was being squeezed to death and even Ikuto was having trouble. He let out a little sigh of exasperation when he saw that Utau was going berserk and beating everybody up left and right. This was a fight that not even Nikaido's patent cough could stop.

One of the teachers was nervously blowing a whistle, afraid that the crowd would turn on her if she did it loudly, and equally afraid that it would do so regardless. Sanjou snatched it from her hand and blew it shrilly. The sudden, extended blast of noise caused people's brains to finally catch up with their bodies. The fighting slowed down to a halt as Sanjou ran out of breath. Then she fixed them with a death glare.

"_All_ of you," she snarled, breathing heavily, "will be receiving a letter sent home. Teachers! I don't care how, but give me a list of names of these students by tomorrow!" she ordered. "Now _scram_! Get back to your classrooms and do something new and exciting; _follow the instructions and learn_!"

The crowd dispersed quickly, nobody wanting to be the person dawdling. "She really is a Demoness," someone remarked. Sanjou didn't even react. Possibly she'd already been pushed over the edge and so could not muster any more anger if she tried.

They all took a moment to compose themselves after that disaster.

"Well, shall we keep going?" Nikaido said briskly, dusting of his clothes. Like always, the Powers stayed silent rather than agree with a teacher. Like always, the teachers too that as agreement and they moved on. This time, however, there was no witty repertoire. The Powers focused on trying to walk as far away from the other Powers as possible. Strangely enough, that incident seemed to remind them all how much they despised each other. Sanjou just hoped that if they'd made any progress in the past two days, it hadn't been completely undone here.

Then Amu seemed to notice something. "Hang on... we couldn't be going to the..."

"That's right," said Sanjou, strangely grateful that somebody was starting to talk again. "We're going to be doing some good old Home Ed today."

They all groaned, almost used to the shocking things that they were being put through.

"Why cooking?" sighed Kukai.

Sanjou grinned, the unusual action causing the Powers to shift backwards slightly in surprise. "This will hopefully teach you to follow instructions, be patient, precise, and that nothing good comes out of cheating."

Nikaido ran a hand through his hair. "This is how it'll work," he said. Then he paused. "Um... do you know Masterchef?"

They looked at him blankly. Yaya ventured a guess. "Is it the one with the robot...?"

"What? No." He closed his eyes and shook his head in weariness. "It's a cooking competition. You have to cook something we tell you to in a certain time limit. The one with the best-tasting dish at the end of it wins. You will be given recipes to follow, of course. "

"And what are you forcing us to cook today for your own sick pleasure?" asked Nagihiko with an encouraging smile.

"Chocolate cake," said Nikido, equally amiably. He was now at the stage where if Nagihiko _didn't_ say something venomous in a polite way, he would be deeply worried. He was sure the other Powers were nearing it, too.

Sanjou started rummaging through one of the cupboards. Finding what she was looking for, she straightened and turned around brightly. "But first you have to wear what every cook needs: an apron." The only Power that didn't choke was Tadase, but even he looked less-than-thrilled at the prospect.

"I am _not_ wearing an apron!" said Kukai bluntly. "The only time you'd find me in one is if some chic is willing to – ow!" he cried out as Amu smacked his head.

"A head cheerleader doesn't _do_ 'aprons'. Yaya Yuiki is _not_ going to wear that... fashion killer."

"... Fashion killer?" echoed Utau. "Still a brainless, brunette bimbo as always, I see."

"Oh shut up, you Friggin' Star," she replied angrily.

"Brainless Brunette Bimbo... a little bit mouthy, but it fits," said Nagihiko.

"The Triple B," Amu agreed, nodding.

Sanjou gave them all a light shove into the Food Lab that they were going to be cooking in. "And don't forget to wash your hands and wash the utensils when you're done with them!" she trilled.

"Don't even think about sabotaging each other! Sanjou-sensei and I will be watching your every move," warned Nikaido.

"Watch out; it's the perving paedophile," sing-songed Kukai.

"The recipes are on the benches, the ingredients are at the front and you have an hour including wash-up, so _get cooking_," ordered Sanjou. Grumbling, the powers dispersed and slowly started to gather the listed ingredients in what they hoped was the right amount. Of course, there was a certain amount of elbowing and baiting but the teachers let that go. They had no expectations to begin with so it was impossible for the Powers to disappoint. Whether that was a good thing or a bad thing was all a matter of viewpoint.

"I'm telling you that they're going to burn the school down and that it might not be an accident," cautioned Nikaido yet again.

"Just be quiet and watch."

~*~

**A/N:** Masterchef or anything affiliated with Masterchef does not belong to me. Neither does mobile phones, kitchenware, schools, teachers or Texas. And in the next installment, we see the Powers handling ovens and eggs. Let's pray that they escape unscathed (or otherwise because it's more interesting that way). Thank you for your patience everyone!


	17. Can't Stand the Heat?

**A/N:** I seriously don't think that this is as funny as it had the potential to be. Ah, well - at least I don't think it's completely _horrible_, right? -.-' Oh well, in case I don't have my next post up in time; **Happy New Year's everyone!**And thank you for all the support. I know, I'm a broken record. But this fic has only survived so long against my laziness and new Spider Solitaire addiction because of you guys.

**Calm and Crazy:** Since you have PMs disabled... Thank you so much. Well, here it is and if they burned the place down this story would become infinitely more serious and unbelievable. Plus, I wouldn't have anywhere to set as their 'home base'.

**Ever42:** Well, maybe in the normal universe. But these are my characters, in my stories and Nagihiko and Amu haven't gotten anywhere near cooking utensils and so far have no wish to. Remember that this is an Alternate Universe fic so that nothing in the story happened. But thank you for the compliments! I do appreciate them so.

**WingsofMorphius:** And thank you, too. You'll see in the next part where he is. And they say that great minds think alike. I'd already had that form of torture planned since the beginning, just because it's so obvious and generic. But I'm taking it a step further... you have to wait and find out how, though.

~*~

**Can't Stand the Heat?**

Since Utau's pride had been wounded that morning and she still felt as though she'd somehow lost to Kukai – a feeling that she despised even more than the Powers – she was determined to win this. Even though 'this' was a stupid exercise set up by the teachers so that they would all magically start to tolerate each other. Not like that was ever possible; the only thing they all had in common was how much they _couldn't_ get along. That... and the fact that the teachers were pretty much all weak-willed cowards hiding behind their authority.

"I'm going to win," she declared while soaping up her hands from her own tiny, individual sink. "And I'll show you what you all are: losers."

"Nah, Hoshina, I'll win," contradicted Kukai.

She stared at him in mild surprise and asked, "Why the hell would you care about winning?"

He shrugged. "If I'm going to wear an apron I might as well win with it."

"But that's not possible for you, Fried Chicken," said Nagihiko vindictively, "seeing as how you could never win against me." It was strange how Nagihiko looked just as sleek and unsettlingly dangerous both in a frilly apron and without one. "You can't defeat me in basketball, a fight or even in this stupid thing."

Rima chose then to interrupt. "It seems as though you are _all_ idiots for taking this seriously. Who cares if you win or lose this?" she ridiculed.

"It's a matter of pride," muttered Kukai. "Or are you saying that because you know that you can't win against us? After all, you'd never be able to do anything on your own. You're completely dependent on your slaves."

"Cooking is child's play," bluffed Amu, "but Mashiro's more defenceless than a newborn."

"Fine," she said, arms crossed, "have it your way. But you're going to regret this after I show you _exactly_ how much you all _suck_ in comparison to me."

"I'm impressed," said Amu in a tone that indicated otherwise. "I didn't know you had it in you to use a word like 'suck'."

She stared back evenly. "I was forced to lower myself to a level that even a brain-dead juvenile would understand as a blatant challenge."

"Shouldn't you all be working on your cake instead of standing around chatting?" snapped Sanjou impatiently. "You've already wasted almost ten minutes."

At this, they separated and headed toward their own miniature kitchens. The other Powers had, of course, overheard the conversation and were determined not to be outshined by the others. It was therefore unfortunate that none of the Powers had ever had any cooking experience before past instant noodles.

Yaya, after some experimentation, had managed to preheat the oven to 350 degrees as per the instructions, and had started sifting the ingredients together. Then she paused. She was a cheerleader on a strict diet, so cake was normally out of the question. However, since she was being forced by a couple of _teachers_, then it was fine. And she reasoned that after such a long time of restricting herself from sweets, two cups of sugar just didn't seem enough. It was cake. It was supposed to be sweet. Another cup or two of sugar wouldn't hurt, right? Yaya went to get more sugar.

Meanwhile, Tadase was hovering near the ingredients, attempting to calculate the amount he would need if he intended to bring the cake home for his parents. His oven was ready and he was rather confident that he was the most likely one to actually succeed in following all instructions and producing a decent cake. While the others fought it out, he was just aiming for something edible.

Yaya, done with the extra sugar, was mixing the wet ingredients in another bowl. She tapped one of the two eggs that they had to use against the bowl. Nothing happened. She tried again, a lot harder. The result was a mess - a mess that _she_ was going to have to clean up. This was the head cheerleader, wearing an apron and wrinkling her nose at an egg-ridden rag. Sanjou hoped that it would teach her humility.

"That's a _shell_ of a problem, isn't it?" joked Nikaido without thinking. He was rewarded with a smack on the head by his associate.

"If you _crack_ another lame joke like that again, I will kill you," she threatened.

"But you just...!" he thought better of the protest and quieted down.

Kukai held an egg gingerly, having looked over and seen Yaya's small predicament. He guessed that cracking an egg was a delicate task. But he wouldn't get anywhere without trying, right? He tapped it against the bowl and it cracked on the first try. Some of it leaked out but most of it made its way to where it was supposed to go. So did some of the eggshell. He cracked the second egg. Less leaked out, but even more shell went in. Kukai decided that it wasn't life-threatening and left it alone.

Something was telling Rima that the mixture was, perhaps, a _tad_ too watery. It was probably something called common sense. For some reason, though, Rima had a feeling that common sense had no place in cooking. It made no sense that any of them were even doing it. Then she decided to do a little taste test. That taste test turned out to be another mistake. The sheer saltiness of the concoction made her gag. But perhaps the mixture was supposed to taste horrible before it cooked? Besides, the raw egg in it was probably unsafe to eat.

There was a loud clatter which drew everybody's attention. Kukai had dropped his entire mixture on the floor. He waved unworriedly at everybody and scooped it all back in.

"Nikaido?" said Sanjou from the corner of the mouth.

"Yeah?" he answered.

"You're the judge."

He made a strangled, choking sound. "Are you trying to kill me? They haven't even gotten to the ovens yet!"

"Are you _arguing_ with me?" she said dangerously, glasses flashing.

"Um... no," he squeaked. She could be _really_ scary at times. He had learnt by now not to say this out loud, though. It showed that he _did_ have a shred of self-preservation left.

Utau bit her tongue, glancing at the clock. It was a matter of mathematics. If she turned the heat up to 700 degrees, then the cake would only need twenty minutes to bake. It was logic. They said that it was what made the world go round and that was good enough for her. Patience had never been her strong point. She was so intent on the clock that she didn't take notice the smell of her cake burning, waving it away as somebody else's problem. When the time was up, she opened the oven to a face full of smoke. In the midst of coughs and thanking whatever was watching over them that it wasn't enough to set off the fire alarm, she caught sight of a blackened horror in place of a cake.

She clucked her tongue, hands on her hips and eyes narrowed. "Look, I don't like you and you don't like me but _I'll be damned if I'm going to just give up_," she told the... cake... sternly.

"Ah, Hoshina's lost it," commented Kukai.

"At least I don't aim to win by feeding the Demoness or Sidekick whatever's been on the floor," she pointed out.

"Heat destroys germs or something, right? It'll be fine. You're having a mental breakdown or something, aren't you?"

Utau snorted. "Mental breakdown my as...tute... thing," she finished lamely, glancing at the teachers.

"'Your astute thing'?" he laughed. "Yeah, great cover-up Hoshina; not obvious at all."

"The moment the teachers aren't here to stop me, I'm taking you _down_, Souma," she promised with a glare.

"Bring it on," he replied smugly. They left to try and salvage their chances of winning the mini-competition that the teachers had going on. It was absurd, but it wasn't as though they had much of a choice in the matter.

In his corner, Ikuto's soon-to-be-cake was baking in the oven. It was at the right temperature, he had gotten the ingredients mostly right and there were hardly any eggshells in it at all. His only fault was that he dozed off as he was getting the frosting ready. Oblivious to the frantic activity around him and the cake under his supervision, he napped. Much like a cat.

Rima watched Utau as the taller girl started scraping off the shell of what had had the potential of being fit for human consumption. She started to worry. Utau's cake had been in the oven for a much less time than hers had been, and if it had turned out like that... Rima quickly turned off the heat in the oven and brought out her cake. It... _seemed_ alright. Much better that Utau's, anyhow. Admittedly, it seemed to be a bit on the unstable and moist side, but perhaps this was how cakes were before they cooled down and hardened. Like lava.

Nagihiko wasn't really sure if the pure vanilla extract needed for the frosting was supposed to smell so... non vanilla-like. Then again, most of the food he ate with anything to do with vanilla was artificial and company-made. It smelled almost like... alcohol. But that couldn't be right, could it? He ignored it and continued on, wondering why there was so much coffee involved in a chocolate cake.

Amu, after opening _her_ oven, hurried to get the cake out of there and onto the kitchen bench before staring at it and covering her face with a cloth. It was on _fire_. "How the hell did this happen?" she wondered, waving at the smoke. Her cake was actually on _fire_. It was _burning_.

"Very good question," said Tadase agreeably. As he did so, the smoke managed to set off the sprinklers and alarm.

"Ah _fu-dge_!" Utau almost-swore, covering her egg with a try like almost everybody else with their cake vulnerable to the spray of the sprinkler.

"Oh _shi_...vers. It's cold," said Yaya, covering herself rather than the cake. The Powers were really trying quite hard to avoid janitory duties. They all knew about the state of the classrooms after a day a school.

Sanjou held the clipboard over her head, although it didn't do much to keep her clothing from becoming soaked. The sprinklers and alarm petered out after a while, but subdued half-curses could still be heard as well as the occasional squeak from their sneakers.

Amu's cake ended up being one partially burnt, disfigured and sodden lost cause. A positive side-effect of the shower was that it woke Ikuto from his slumber. By that time, though, his cake had already been burnt. Not to the extent of Utau's of course, but he hadn't been able to finish the frosting, either.

"What happened while I was out?" he asked, shaking water out of his hair. Nobody answered him but they all looked pointedly in Amu's direction.

The door burst open to reveal an anxious Nobuko. "Is everybody alright? Where's the fire?" she panted in between breaths. They all continued staring at the culprit who blushed faintly.

"She did it," said Yaya in a surprisingly childish manner. It must have been the apron. The apron and the cake were affecting her mind.

"_How _did you set your cake on fire?" asked Nagihiko in disbelief.

"Wait... she set the cake on _fire_?" laughed Ikuto. "What would she do with something _actually flammable_?"

"S-shut up!" she hissed.

"'Cool and Spicy', huh?" scoffed Yaya. "I don't think they put enough thought into your nickname."

"You _think_, Witch?" said Kukai in mock-surprise. "You should stop otherwise your empty little head will overheat," he suggested.

Nobuko looked around, sensing that the situation wasn't as serious as she'd thought it was when the alarm started going off. "So... everything is okay?"

Nagihiko smiled and said reassuringly, "Yes it is, so get lost you tub of lard."

"Fujisaki!" snapped Sanjou angrily.

"That's the second time you've dropped the Snake's 'san'," said Kukai. A lesser man (namely Nikaido) would have flinched at the furious gaze directed at him.

"Stop... _counting_ them or whatever, alright Souma-_san_?" she spat.

"I just find it interesting, that's all," he said offhandedly.

"Everything's fine, Nobuko," said Nikaido soothingly.

"Just peachy," added Sanjou with a brittle smile. "And I suggest you don't get yourself any more involved with these wretched children otherwise they will drive you insane."

"Or make your head implode," said Ikuto.

"Perhaps suicidal," commented Utau.

"_Hom_icidal, probably." This charming suggestion belonged to Rima.

"I... see," said Nobuko. "I'll just... go now." With that, the middle-aged lady departed, leaving the chaos that the Powers caused behind her.

"Okay," said Nikaido cheerfully with a clap of his hands, "time's up! We shall now commence the judging of your... cakes." His face fell as he realised that judging would entail him actually tasting the misshapen creations.

"Bring them out to the front," Sanjou sighed tiredly. Then she sneezed. "If I get sick, you'll _all_ wish I'd never been born."

"Sorry, but I already wish that you'd never been born," said Nagihiko.

"It'd have been a blessing for the world," agreed Rima, surprisingly.

If Sanjou had been holding anything, it would have shattered under the pressure of her grip. The dripping and freezing teacher swore that she was much too underpaid for the job, imagined being able to murder both the principal and the Powers and having a good long sleep in her bed. After calming down, she just waved for Nikaido to go on.

"Alright, bring those cakes up to the front!" commanded Nikaido.

"Oh joy," said Utau drily.

~*~

**A/N:** OMG Rima and Nagi AGREED on something! Amu got a little bit of showtime (and made the others diss her even more) and Ikuto woke up! Plot twists galore on this wonderful ride, no? Oh, and for those who don't know or can't guess, the title refers to the saying "If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen". Although I think it's fairly obvious, it's been used so many times. It's the only way _I_ would know about it, after all.


	18. Winner

**A/N:** More nothing happening really. Except, perhaps, some good ol' entertainment. This is a rather long part, I think, and I do hope you enjoy it.

~*~

**Winner**

The Powers had been graciously allowed ten more minutes to spread the icing on the cake. Yaya slipped on the wet tiles as she tried to do so. Twice. A soaking wet cheerleader was not a happy cheerleader, and unhappy cheerleaders always strive to spread their displeasure to the people closest to them so that they wouldn't stand out. Not that the other Powers were very happy people to start with, anyhow.

"God, I need a boyfriend," she moaned as she picked herself up.

"God, I wish you'd shut up." said Utau, mimicking her tone of voice before adding, "Besides, there's probably a _reason_ why you don't have a boyfriend."

"Yeah, 'cause you're pathetic," Kukai butt in.

Yaya snorted. "Says the guy who would do anyone -"

A polite cough interrupted her comeback. It was, of course, Nikaido's doing. She was getting dangerously close to needing a swear jar even if she technically hadn't sworn. Yaya chose her words carefully.

"... Anyone's dirty work for five bucks?" She looked disgusted with herself for saying some stupid nonsense because of a couple of _teachers_. They were _all_ pitiful. But of course, none of them would never admit it out loud.

"And that makes _total_ sense," said Kukai with a roll of the eyes. "Almost as much sense as Hoshina's 'astute thing'."

"Do you hate your face so much that you want me to rearrange it for you, FC? I'd do it, you know. Free of charge, too, just because it's you," she offered, glaring at him.

"It's an offer that I'd be mad to pass up," he replied sardonically. "I'm guessing that there's going to be a knuckle sandwich too?"

"You know, you should probably stop fighting or flirting or whatever it is you're doing," Ikuto observed. Since he'd fallen asleep while his cake was in the oven, which had been the time he had been supposed to make the icing, he had nothing to do and was now watching the struggle of all the Powers. He also noted the presence of one very special person.

"F-flirting?" spluttered Utau. "Are you crazy?!'

"Yeah right," laughed Kukai, "I wouldn't _touch_ her if you _paid_ me to!"

"_That_ is one mercy I'm completely grateful for," she said, glowering at them both. Ikuto smiled back at them in an annoyingly knowing manner before turning his attention elsewhere.

"Okay, bring a slice of those things up to the front!" ordered Sanjou. "Nikaido-sensei will be judging you."

Slowly, all the slices of cake were brought to the front and placed in a line. The burnt ones bar one were covered with extra icing so that you couldn't really tell by looking at them, a few of them were slightly... lumpy, and a couple of them were threatening to fall apart. Not to mention the somewhat distressing smell that one was giving off.

"What a delightful selection of cakes, right Nikaido-sensei?" Sanjou said in an uncharacteristically chipper voice.

"Absolutely. I might _die_ of delight, in fact," he answered gloomily.

"We certainly hope so," said Nagihiko with that glassy smile still in place. Everybody stared at him at length, wondering if he meant he hoped that their cakes were delightful or that Nikaido would die. Most of them were leaning towards the second option, but you could never be _sure_ with Nagihiko. It might have been completely blameless or... well, not.

"Ambiguity aside," said Ikuto slowly, "let's get on with the whole judging thing." He had a fairly good idea who was going to win, though.

It took Sanjou's hard shove to get Nikaido moving. He decided to start at the end without many burnt cakes, picking up a slice that belonged To Tadase. He didn't notice how dry it felt before taking a bite though. Everybody watched with interest as he reached over and quickly poured himself a cup of water from the tap, downing it in one go. After he was done, he seemed to pause for a moment.

"Tell me, Hotori-san," he said thoughtfully, "how much buttermilk and vegetable oil did you use?"

Tadase's eyes widened in realisation as he said, "Uh... I think I forgot to readjust the amount of buttermilk to the right ratio... and the egg, too."

"Your cake's all flour. It's crumbling," Kukai pointed out, poking the cake.

"Hey, stop it!" objected Tadase.

"'Oh, stop it' he says," said Yaya with the viciousness of a cheerleader, "Why don't you go crying to your mummy, maybe she could stop it for you."

They were interrupted by a small _crunch_. Their heads turned to see Nikaido with a pained expression on his face, Kukai's cake in his hand this time. There were more crunching sounds as he continued to chew in the hopes that the eggshells would be reduced to a decent, non-lethal size. Then his expression changed as, with his free hand, he pulled a gray fibre from his mouth.

"That must've been from the floor," commented Kukai unapologetically, to the sniggers of the others.

Nikaido reached for a small bin and spat everything out. Then he spat a few extra times just to make sure. And then he rinsed his mouth with more water. Sanjou winced in sympathy although she was glad that it wasn't her.

He reached for one of the few cakes left that had been cooked by a Power and looked normal, if rather soaked. It happened to belong to Yaya. He took a ginger mouthful and instantly his world became full of sugar. Chocolate and sugar. The cake was so exceedingly, damply sweet that he had to fight to keep from vomiting into the sink. He quickly took a drink of water in an attempt to wash it away.

"I'll take that as a bad sign," said Yaya.

"You think?" asked Nagihiko sarcastically. "Geez, I knew you were _dumb_, but I hadn't known you were an _idiot_."

Before Yaya could open her mouth to answer, Nikaido butted in with a question. "How much sugar did you put in there?"

Yaya paused, trying to remember before shrugging. "I don't know. But I put in more 'cause a cake's supposed to be sweet, right? I put in chocolate instead of cocoa because this is a chocolate cake, isn't it? And I didn't put in any salt because I don't get why there has to be," she replied.

Nikaido felt his stomach churn again. He had half a mind to stop but Sanjou caught his eye in time. He whimpered but chose the next one that wasn't burnt. It was the one with the strange smell. It also happened to belong to Nagihiko. The politely vicious, creepy one, who, he suspected, probably carried a knife. On the boy's face was a completely friendly, encouraging and entirely non-threatening smile which sent shivers up his spine.

But that was absurd. He was the adult with years of experience. He'd seen and been through worse things than a mere _smile_. Still unsettled, he bit into his cake. This time, a familiar bitterness coated his tongue, overriding the sensations of sweetness, for which he was actually grateful.

"This has alcohol in it," he said disapprovingly, "Very strong alcohol, I might add."

"Really?" asked Nagihiko curiously, "can I have a bite?"

"No!" Sanjou snapped, "You're all still underage."

"Actually, I think that in certain countries, I would already be legal," Ikuto piped up.

"In China, we'd all be legal," added Nagihiko.

"Well we're not _in_ China, and we could get _fired_," she hissed, acknowledging the fact that the Powers probably didn't care.

"Like we care?" said Yaya, confirming her thoughts.

"Fujisaki-san's disqualified and the cake will be confiscated," declared Sanjou crossly."Keep going, Nikaido-sensei."

"Um... Sure," he replied gloomily. He selected an icing-less, slightly charred slice that belonged to Ikuto. Thankfully, the Stray Cat was in a good mood that day because he'd be too lazy to do anything no matter what Nikaido did. Besides, since he fell asleep during the process, Nikaido was rather certain that Ikuto just didn't really care either way.

He took a bite and was surprised. "Apart from, well, being a bit burnt and without icing, the cake seems to be... okay," he said. There were barely any eggshells and the taste was more-or-less what it was supposed to be.

"He fell asleep!" was Yaya's shocked outburst. "He can't have the best cake so far!"

"Well, apparently, he does," said Nikaido, shrugging. "He was probably too lazy to change the recipe, unlike _some_ of you." He shot Tadase and Yaya a sharp look before going back to the slices of cake.

"My cake was still better," bragged Nagihiko.

"It was disqualified," Rima remarked, "You could perhaps take that into consideration."

Nagihiko smiled brightly. "So? It was still better," he insisted.

"That doesn't matter when it's _disqualified_," she persevered, not willing to lose to some braggart who talked big but didn't actually do anything.

"At least _my_ cake isn't _lumpy_, Goldilocks," he shot back. That shut her up.

Nikaido swallowed rather fearfully and picked up a slice that had obviously had much of the blackened outer shell hacked off, the inner parts oozing slightly. This was, obviously, Utau's.

"Enjoy," she said sadistically, doing a very good impression of Nagihiko.

The teacher took a bite. It was every bit as horrible as he'd expected it to be. Wordlessly, he placed the rest of the slice back down and moved on; confident that the Powers knew what he would have said if he'd bothered. They did.

"Too bad, Hoshina," said Kukai, "you _lose_."

Utau grit her teeth, hands clenching in preparation. "You seem like you want your knuckle sandwich early, you mothe -"

"Hoshina," said Nikaido quietly, face grim. They were back to seriously wanting to tear each other to pieces again. He'd thought they'd learnt to barely tolerate each other, but it seemed as though he was wrong.

Utau stepped away from Kukai, resentment pouring out of her in waves. Kukai was smart enough not to mention anything about 'san' or the lack thereof and even the other Powers refrained from making any smart comments. Sanjou sniffed as she wondered why Nikaido could, when he was serious, garner this much of a reaction whereas she only just got by with shouting, threats, retaliation and glares.

After he was certain that they weren't going to get into another fight, he reached for the next slice, which belonged to Rima. It was indeed, as Nagihiko had pointed out, lumpy. It was also undercooked and suspiciously watery even though she'd made sure that it didn't get soaked in sprinkler water. And, with one bite, Nikaido started to cough, spit and consume another glass of H2O.

"Hm? Did you put in too much sugar as well, Goldilocks?" asked Nagihiko inquiringly. "And here I thought you had a working brain."

"Is that a compliment?" she said irritably.

"I didn't say that the brain was a _good_ one," he replied serenely.

Nikaido was finally composed enough to speak. "Mashiro-san... why is your cake horrendously... salty?" he questioned. "Did you change the recipe?"

"No," she answered curtly. "I wouldn't be stupid enough to change the ingredients. The only thing that I have done incorrectly is to take the cake out of the oven earlier than per the instructions."

"Are you calling me stupid?" spat Yaya.

"_Everyone_ calls you stupid, Triple B," stated Utau, still brooding, "because everyone _knows_ you're stupid. All the intelligence in the family went into your _brother_."

Everybody was shocked when Nikaido moved fast enough to stop Yaya's slap. They never would have guessed that his reflexes were that quick. It almost impressed them. Almost.

"Hoshina!" snapped Sanjou, "What's gotten _into_ you?"

"Nothing, but I seriously hope that you don't expect me to become _buddies_ with everyone just because you _say_ so," she hissed, arms crossed and scowling.

"Hey, calm down," said Tadase soothingly, "they have to try because the school is..."

"Shut up, _Princess_," Kukai ordered, rolling his eyes. "Who cares about friggin' _school_?"

"Well, for a good future..."

"Oh, a _future_," he said sarcastically. "That's alright then. Everything's always about 'the future'. You spend your entire life for 'the future' as though that's all that'll ever matter."

"But it's very important," he persisted. "If you don't..."

"Kiddy King, you're pis – ticking him off," observed Ikuto, "and you know that you would never be able to handle a fight with _anyone_, much less Souma."

"He's 'ticking' _me_ off as well," said Utau aggressively, "and trust me, I'm stronger than our resident Chicken."

Sanjou rubbed her temples for the umpteenth time since she'd known of the Powers. "What happened?" she wondered. "We were doing so well just a few minutes ago."

"Never expect anything positive from the Powers, remember?" said Nikaido.

"Aren't you going to do anything?" she asked, looking at him pointedly. "Since you seem to be better than I am at controlling them."

"Sorry, but not this time. They're all yours," he replied brightly. She responded by smacking the back of his head, which he'd grown to expect.

"Alright," she broke into the Powers' fight loudly, "whoever doesn't shut up will be getting a phone home... and," she added sneakily, "pictures of you in those aprons up around the school."

They stared at her in alarm. "You wouldn't!" they yelled in horror. Their reputations would take a huge blow, and they would be chased around by their fans even more ferociously than before. Heck, it might even start a terrifying new _trend_ of wearing _aprons_, because that was exactly how mindless their fans were. None of them wanted to be the one to start an age where aprons were _fashionable_ – they would never, ever be able to live it down. Sanjou grinned and waved a previously unnoticed camera at them.

"So you should all just be quiet and sit tight," she advised

"This is blackmail," muttered Kukai, standing back and glaring at the thing that he had been forced to drape over his clothes. It had splotches of flour and egg on it, since he wasn't the most careful cook in the world.

"It seems to be the only way I can get the message through those thick skulls of yours," she pointed out grumpily.

There were two cakes left to be judged. One was badly burnt on one side, and the other looked... perfect. Something began to nag at Yaya and, strangely, she started to count the plates. Sure, she could admit to herself that she wasn't the brightest bulb in the pack but she _could_ count – even if the other Powers might say otherwise. She frowned and counted again.

"Why are there _nine_ plates?" Yaya asked finally.

"Oh, haven't you noticed?" Ikuto asked casually. "The Captain's been with us for a while."

Seven heads whipped around to find that Kairi was indeed lurking in an overlooked corner. They hadn't noticed him since, as a whole, the Powers tried to forget who it was that they were actually being forced to be in the same room as.

"The _Captain_?" they spat.

"Yup," he said cheerfully before adding, "and he baked a cake, too."

"But that ain't fair!" protested Kukai hotly. "The Captain's a regular momma's boy!" He stopped as he sensed something change in Kairi and watched in surprise as his eyes flashed in anger. For a moment, he actually reminded them of Sanjou which had never really happened before. Then he seemed to get himself under control.

"And?" he asked coldly.

"Yeah, Chicken; since when were _you_ of all people pro-fairness?" demanded Utau, a questioning look on her face.

"Are you calling me a cheater?" he answered, eyes narrowing dangerously.

"Are you talking about football or women?" she returned.

Sanjou coughed, trying once more to imitate Nagihiko's one. It didn't work, so she resorted to calling out, "Aprons". That worked much better. The Powers quietened down and grudgingly turned to watch her. "Get on with the judging," she ordered Nikaido, vowing to herself that she would find out what Nikaido's secret was to getting the brats to listen to him.

"Oh, the cake that caught on fire," he said, falsely cheerful. "What on earth did you put in this cake to make it flammable, Himamori-san?"

"It's Hi_n_amori, and just get it over and done with," she said in a bored tone, clutching at her 'Cool and Spicy' persona.

Nikaido chose to try the side that wasn't as charred. Apart from still being slightly crunchy and dry and the presence of a few pieces of eggshell, it was surprisingly not as bad as he'd expected. "I think you put in too much flour," he observed, "but it isn't bad. For a cake that caught on fire, anyway."

"Whatever," she replied, secretly pleasantly surprised.

"And last but not least..."

"Wait," said Sanjou, announcing, "I have a hunch about how Mashiro-san's cake turned out so salty."

"Okay..." Nikaido made a motion for her to keep going.

"Mashiro-san, which container did you believe was for the sugar?" she asked, pointing at the two plastic jars containing sugar and salt respectively. As Sanjou suspected, she pointed to the one containing the salt, causing Kukai to burst out in laughter.

"But they've got these huge labels with 'sugar' and 'salt' on them!" he said incredulously. "How the heck did you manage to mix them up?"

Rima refused to blush, giving him one of the iciest glares she could muster at that moment. "The salt didn't smell salty, and I don't trust those glasses-toting idi- I mean, people," she explained haughtily.

"Is salt supposed to smell salty?" mused Ikuto.

"The ocean smells salty," commented Nikaido, "would that count?"

"That's dissolved salt," Ikuto reprimanded, "but does salt by itself smell salty?"

Rima turned to glower at Ikuto. "I wouldn't know. I have cooks and slaves to execute the menial tasks such as cooking, cleaning and transport," she sniffed.

Sanjou gave Nikaido another smack on the head, shouting "Shut up about freaking salt!"

"But you started it," whined the man, rubbing his head.

"And I'm ending it. Just take a bite of the Captain's cake already," she ordered irately. He did so without another word of complaint because the Captain's cake looked rather delicious. In fact, it tasted so delicious compared to the pitiful things that the Powers handed in that he continued eating until Sanjou gave him a smack on the head.

"This one wins hands-down," he said quickly, ready to return to eating it again. He thought he deserved that much after almost throwing up a few times before. Unfortunately, Sanjou had snatched it away and had started to dig in herself.

"That was _such_ a huge surprise," said Utau scathingly. "Why the heck _did_ you get him to cook as well?"

"Because all of you are already egocentric enough and losing will do you some good," retorted Sanjou, happily munching on her nephew's chocolate cake.

"So you knew we didn't have a chance," she grumbled bitterly. Sanjou snorted. Of course she'd known: she'd groomed the winner since he was old enough not to stick his hand in fire just because it looked pretty. Still, she softened slightly.

She polished off the cake and washed her hands before reaching for her handbag. "You know what?" she said, "Despite the fact that you're all still arrogant little horrors, you _did_ try today, which is more than I'd ever expected. _And_ you didn't even attempt sabotage, which is good."

"You have no expectations of us anyway, right? So we can't fall below it," commented Nagihiko.

"Right," she agreed unabashedly. "So, I'll give you all a little reward. I'm almost dry now, too," she noticed, peering down at her clothes.

"Reward?" said Rima flatly. "Like what? Poison? Drugs? A time bomb?"

"Chocolate," Sanjou countered, handing a block to her, "for everyone, including your own cynical self."

"What? For _him_, too?" asked Yaya, jerking a thumb in Ikuto's direction. Sanjou nodded, causing her to object with a "But he fell _asleep_! He didn't try!"

"Nevertheless..."

Yaya looked down at the chocolate and hesitated before shrugging and taking a bite. One block of chocolate couldn't do much harm, right? She could exercise more and make up for it anyway. It was fine.

"Thank you, Sanjou-sensei," said Tadase solemnly as the condiment was dropped into his hands. She ignored him – he was still a Power after all. Even if he did seem to be the least obnoxious of the lot and _appeared_ to be less arrogant, there were incidences where she doubted exactly how humble the boy was.

"Now clean up!" she commanded them. "Wash the plates, dry them and stack them back where they belong. Somebody has to mop the floor, and don't forget to wipe your benches clean!"

"And throw away the stuff you've cooked. They're unfit for human consumption," added Nikaido.

The Powers hadn't moved an inch, jaws hanging loose. They had to _clean up_?

"Well, at least we didn't swear," commented Kukai.

"Shut up," retorted Utau, "and start mopping, Princess Hotori." She handed the mop over to the hapless boy without giving him the time to complain.

Sanjou, hopping up to sit on one of the kitchen benches, sighed happily. "Now I know what Mashiro-san feels like all the time."

"Except they hate you instead of dote on you," Nikaido pointed out.

"Be quiet and keep an eye on them all," she said, waving him off.

~*~

**A/N:** Bet ya didn't see that one coming, did ya? The Captain won, although it seems that Ikuto or Amu was a close second. And... just a few more chapters until the beginnings of Rimahiko! How few? Even I'm not sure. But... sorry Amuto fans for making y'all wait so long. And quite a bit longer still. I hope you won't be disappointed when it finally happens.


	19. True Love Or Not

**A/N:** Hi! To answer your questions, **I'm not dead**. **But I am sorry**. I had so much going on (school and life in general) that I developed a huge writer's block and a bout of apathy. So I took a break from Fanfic altogether. But now I'm back, although I'm still busy with school and everything. Ah, who cares? Here's the part. I do hope you enjoy and I'll answer your reviews and everything else when I find the time. Thank you for your patience.

~*~

**True Love... Or Not**

"Man, I still can't believe the whole thing was a freaking set-up!" complained Kukai, leaning back on his table. They had been herded back to Room 9 again, each and every one of them wondering where the teachers would take them if that room burned down or something similar. This train of thought must have been catching, because Nikaido was wondering if any of the Powers had enough guts to actually burn the room down. He was rather certain that Nagihiko, Ikuto and Rima would set it on fire without a qualm. The rich could worm themselves out of anything.

"Get over it," said Amu irritably. It had been the fifth time he'd said it since they'd started eating their lunch, but who was counting?

"Where'd the Captain go? I haven't even told him about the pictures of him getting dunked into the toilets yet," he said, sounding quite disappointed. "They're pretty high quality, too."

"I sent him on an errand," said Sanjou coolly, flipping through a maroon notebook. "Finished eating?"

Amu, Rima and Tadase were the only who'd had with lunch yet again. Well, you could count Kukai too if you considered one can of soft drink 'lunch'. Yaya played the diet card and Utau and Nagi claimed they forgot. Nobody bothered asking Ikuto who was too busy yawning to answer them in any case.

"It's not healthy to skip meals, you know," said Nikaido who was happily munching on an apple, "especially for growing teens such as yourself." When he realised that his wisdom was being completely ignored by said growing teens, he peevishly went back to keeping the doctor away.

"Okay, so I thought that it would be good to discuss some things and get your opinions 'out there'," said Sanjou. She paused and listened to what she was actually saying, making a face. "I sound preppy, don't I? Like one of those weird environmentalists that go around trying to convert people into caring about things."

"You sounded preppy," agreed Rima. "It was actually worse than how you ordinarily sound."

Ikuto nodded and said, "Yeah, we'd take angrily sadistic to preppy any day."

She glared at him and gave a light cough. As she'd expected, it had nowhere near the effect that one of Nikaido's could achieve. What was it that made the man tick? "So, continuing on, I thought that we could perhaps discuss your view on true love," she suggested. The moment she uttered those words, the group excluding Tadase and Amu seemed to sneer as one.

"Could you possibly pick a more annoying subject?" asked Utau, rolling her eyes.

"Don't you believe in it?" she replied questioningly. "I thought that all teenage girls believed in love. Besides, your songs..."

"Ah yes, my songs. Well, if you follow that logic, then I'm some pathetic little sl...ightly easy... uh... I _hate_ not being able to freaking swear!" she shouted, wringing her hands and scowling.

"You should give her points for remembering," suggested Nagihiko, sending her one of his special smiles. She answered with a look of disgust.

"Well, I believe in love," said Tadase stoutly. "I think it's great if you find somebody that you can happily spend the rest of your life with." He gave them all a defiant stare, expecting them to disagree. They didn't disappoint.

"And this is how we know you're a pansy, Prince," smirked Kukai. "Love's dead, like chivalry."

"And _you_ know what chivalry is?" he asked in disbelief. If the jock did, then he certainly didn't practice it at all. Ever.

Kukai gave some thought to this. "I dunno, isn't it some extinct animal from Australia? They've all got weird names," he said lightly, much to Tadase's annoyance. In actual fact, Kukai really did know what the word meant but it wasn't as though he gained anything from sounding smarter than he did. If it was one thing he knew, it was that high expectations would kill his soul.

Sanjou looked around, wondering who, apart from Tadase, would be the most cooperative. Or at least somebody who would talk without attempting to swear. "Mashiro-san, what do you think about love?" she asked, forcedly polite. She really wanted this conversation not to escalate to anything more than a normal conversation for once. It would be a welcome relief.

"Love is a lie," replied Rima, her eyes narrowing fractionally. "A little lie we tell ourselves to make us feel better, to have some hope in our lives that there can be more to a relationship than money, children and the making thereof. It's like Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy, a little story to compel us to believe that we can get something valuable for nothing."

"Wonderful!" Nikaido exclaimed with a falsely jovial tone. "I _knew_ kids today were full of optimism and dreams." He sighed and rubbed his temples. These children were the reason he despaired for the future of their country. One day, it would be up to them to run the country and teach the young. This was a thought best left unimagined. As far as he was concerned, it would be a blessing if the entire system just skipped their generation so that he wouldn't have to live through the horror.

Sanjou shot him an angry look before turning back to them. "Come on, at least a _few_ of you _have_ to have parents that are happy together," she persevered. She knew that the rates for divorce and crime were on the rise lately, but things weren't _so _bad that only one out of eight children had a normal family.

"But... even if 'true love' _did_ exist, it doesn't really matter to us now," reasoned Yaya. "I mean... who cares? It's not going to happen to us _now_."

"For once," said Kukai, "the Witch has a point. Have fun while you're young and hope you never get caught in something so pathetic." He looked around and smirked when most of the other Powers reluctantly consented that he had a valid point.

"What do you mean, pathetic?" asked Tadase, astonished. "Do you think it's _pathetic_ to want to share your life with the person you care the most for in the world?"

Utau sent him a look which clearly said that she thought he was an idiot. "Pathetic is _exactly_ the right word," she retorted. "It's _pathetic_ for people to depend on their 'partner' and even more to _need_ some stupid guy and give up your life for them."

"But don't you want somebody to accept you and love you unconditionally for the rest of your life?" he argued, not believing how contemptuous they were when it came to something so simple and worldwide.

"There's no such thing as unconditional love," Yaya told him, looking for her stash of gum. When she found it, she popped one in her mouth and started chewing in a way that only she could. Nine pairs of eyes stared at her in a sort of fascinated trance as she drew the most annoying, obnoxious sound possible from it.

When Sanjou finally managed to tear her eyes away from the Freshman, she adjusted her glasses and muttered, "You're a pathetic group, you know. I mean, how could a group of teenagers at the top of the school _not_ believe in love? Or anything optimistic at all, for that matter." She remembered that when _she_ was a teenager, all she'd dreamt about was for some handsome, kind, and most importantly successful and rich man to come and sweep her off her feet and for them to drive off into the sunset in an adequately expensive car.

Tadase raised his arm hesitantly. "Um... I believe in love," he announced.

"Don't get me _started _on you, okay?" she said, shooting him a look. The Powers' eyebrows shot up in surprise. Adults generally loved Tadase in comparison to everybody else since he was always so agreeable and nice and innocent-looking. In all actuality, they were somewhat enjoying the fact that this didn't seem to be the case.

"What about you, Himamori-san?" asked Nikaido civilly.

"It's Hi_n_amori, Nikaido," she retorted, folding her arms and looking away.

"That's Nikaido-_sensei_," he reminded her cheerfully, taking absolutely no offense whatsoever. He also ignored her. "Do you believe in love, Himamori-san? You've been awfully quiet for a while now."

"She's _always_ awfully quiet," said Rima. "My theory is that she's mentally retarded, which would explain a lot."

"And yet, you can't beat me in a battle of wits, Mashiro," Amu observed, narrowing her eyes at the rich, pampered girl. A pop idol that'd once been a model, an athlete who slept around on a nightly basis, a pretty-boy with a sense of entitlement, a cheerleader with a purse full of make-up and gum, a lazy, lock-picking slacker and a creepy, smiley reptile surrounded her, much to her irritation. She liked to think that she wasn't quick to judge people, but it was hard for her to conclude that these people were anything more than spoiled brats. She tried not to, but she resented them for their lives.

"We were talking about love, Himamori-san," Nikaido prodded. "Do you believe in it?"

She looked away, rubbing the back of her neck and wondering what answer would suit her 'Cool and Spicy' personality the best. It was her only shield to being hurt. "I guess..." she said, shrugging.

"You 'guess'?" scoffed Utau. "It's a pretty simple question, Hinamori, with only two answers: yes or no."

"What do you care?" she countered, folding her arms and looking away.

Realisation and then disbelief coloured Utau's features as she turned to the others and asked incredulously, "Is she sulking? Am I wrong, or is the famous CSH sulking?"

"She certainly does look as though she's sulking," observed Rima.

"Either that or completely failing to look like some kind of rebel," added Ikuto.

"Why don't you go back to sleep?" suggested Kukai. "Everybody likes you better that way, Kitty." Which was a legitimate statement but perhaps would have been more effective if it wouldn't be just as true when directed at almost everybody else in the room.

"Look, why don't we just answer the questions truthfully?" Tadase suggested, nearly as tired of the constant bickering and insults as the teachers were. The others shot him rather disgusted looks at his accommodating attitude.

And somehow, Sanjou found herself getting annoyed at Tadase's weak attempt at helping them. It smelled too much like pity and she was not one to take pity from a snot-nosed brat, even if that snot-nosed brat had the capability of turning several hundred obsessed and battle-worthy fangirl soldiers against her.

"Am I the only one that might actually prefer the Captain as a Power instead of Prince Moron?" wondered Kukai, dead serious. This, coming from Kairi's past tormentor spoke volumes about the way he felt about Tadase. "At least he's got some kind of backbone. Or even a personality."

Yaya appraised Kairi before dismissing him. "Nah, he's got absolutely nothing going on in the looks department."

"He screams 'I'm an uptight control-freak of a nerd who has zero social skills'," said Rima. Kairi just couldn't believe that each and every one of them had the gall to talk about him as though he weren't even in the same room. Either that, or a cow waiting to be auctioned off.

"I don't think that you of all people can claim to have 'social skills'," said Nagihiko. "You rely on money, looks and idiots to get everything you want."

"And you rely on violence, looks and cowards to obtain whatever you desire," she mimicked him.

Nikaido coughed and the Powers fell silent. "We get it, we get it," he said brightly, "everyone manages to get everything through the use of means generally disapproved of. On the other hand, _nobody really cares right now_." Of course, 'nobody' meant the teachers. Secretly, the Powers did care very much. Each of them despised the others for their attitude, their points of view, their actions, words, fans, the way they judged others and most especially the fact that they appeared to have everything. From the start, none of them could have brought themselves to like the others and all the incidents up until the present time had been used as an excuse and justification.

"Alright, what do you -" Sanjou said.

"It's time to go home," announced Yaya, glancing at the time on her phone. "Why are we in one of the only classrooms that sound of the bell doesn't reach?"

"Coincidence," said Sanjou flatly. Truthfully, that was one of the reasons why they had chosen the classroom. It meant that they could control the amount of time spent doing whatever. Besides, the bell had always gotten on her nerves. At their impatient looks, she reluctantly nodded her acquiescence and answered their unspoken question. "Yes, you may go home already."

Before anybody could move, Kairi spoke up. "I have a meeting now," he informed them curtly, leaving at once. He put up with them at his aunt's wish, but that didn't mean he wanted to. He was perhaps the only student that wasn't taken in by the Powers' pull, even back when they'd almost been a breath of fresh air to the school. Heck, some of them had even been just a bit charming back when they first arrived. Not any more, though. No, they were bitter demons now, looking to possess, use and discard any human heart that was enchanted by their spell. And, like so many others, he never stopped to think that even a demon might become lonely, surrounded by the fallen and without one single soul that it could really call a 'friend'.

And if he had thought about it, he might then have stopped himself and asked if he felt all that lonely himself without a friend. And he would answer that that was an absurd suggestion and stop thinking about it at all. But he would have been lying.

"What bug does _he_ have up his... butt?" wondered Utau.

"Stick-insect," answered Ikuto immediately, as if on reflex.

Kukai looked at him and said, "What the heck does that mean?"

"Well, a stick-insect is..." Nagihiko started to explain sweetly.

"Enough!" demanded Sanjou, closing her eyes, "Just go wherever you go after school and terrorise whoever you want to! _Get out_!"

"Aw, I'm hurt," said Ikuto, melodramatically placing a hand over his heart.

"Fatally wounded," added Nagihiko, "And here I thought that you really wanted to help us, _sensei_."

Utau shoved past them with the last crack, "If you're fatally wounded, then just go and die quietly, Snake."

"How come she only mentioned me?" he asked aloud.

"You're just special that way," Ikuto said drily. "That... and you really get on her nerves, I think."

"Oh? Then..."

"Get out!" Sanjou repeated, pointing at the open door. She knew that all the Powers liked to have the last say in everything but to the extent that they loitered in the classroom... Last time they'd left as quickly as possible to escape from each other. Perhaps this meant that things were progressing and she should be pleased, but they were really giving her a migraine. She could only handle them for so long without blowing a fuse. They'd been doing this for three days. It felt more like three _months_. This was aging her horribly, she knew. She could _feel_ the wrinkles on her face deepening as the second ticked by.

When she next opened her eyes, the room was empty. Except for Nikaido but since his presence was so weak when he wasn't trying to garner any teenagers' attention he didn't really count. She felt weariness sink in to her bones. Being snappish and angry all day was more draining than it seemed. "And we have another day left before the weekends," she groaned.

Nikaido, equally tired, forgot to maintain his cheerful self and stared grimly out of the window. "You know, I wonder what happened for all those kids to become as twisted as they are."

"Twisted?" snorted Sanjou. "You're one to talk, Mr Sunshine."

"Talk about the pot calling the kettle black," he rebutted. "Still, don't you wonder?"

She made a non-committal noise in her throat and shrugged. "That's not part of our job. Our job is to calm them down and get them to stop fighting. If we accomplish that then we'll never have to deal with the brats again."

"Hmm..." Nikaido was unconvinced.

"Come on, it's not like we're responsible for what happens outside of school. Besides, do you think they even _want_ us to pry?" she pointed out. "Even Kairi gets irritated when I try to poke my nose in his business."

"You still do it."

"Yes, but that's because he's my flesh and blood."

Nikaido sighed. "Maybe you're right."

"Oh, I'm definitely right."

He wondered where she got all that confidence from, if that really was confidence and not bravado. Sanjou was one of the proudest people he'd ever met, but he sometimes thought that it really was just for show, a facade made to protect herself. Then he wondered briefly whether one or two of the Powers were the same.

Nah. Sanjou was probably right and he should just stop thinking about it and making things so complicated. There really was no reason to worry. None at all.

~*~

**A/N:** I only have a vague idea what this part is really about but I hope that you guys get the gist of things. The next update should be faster. Should.


	20. Sunset

**A/N:** The reason why this part is out already is because **my birthday is tomorrow**. Well... _my _tomorrow. As in, the 24th but for most of _you_ guys, it'd be during your 23rd. Cross-continental celebrations are so confusing. Anyhow, this is a birthday present to myself! Another peek into the life of a Power or so.

**Disclaimer:** The books _Lord of the Flies_ and _Where's Wally_ do not belong to me. They belong to William Golding and Martin Handford respectively. Although I merely mentioned their titles, give them the acknowledgment that they're due.

~*~

**Sunset**

The meeting was over. Kairi sighed, rubbing his face. For the past few weeks all they'd talked about had been the _Festival_ this and the _Festival_ that. It was one of the largest social events in the year – which was surprising since none of the Powers ever attended it, not even Tadase. This year, things were looking particularly grim as there weren't enough groups willing to volunteer to perform or entertain the school so the events were limited. When he'd complained to his aunt, she'd just looked thoughtful and said that she might have the perfect solution. He started to have his doubts, however, when the corners of her mouth turned up in a malicious smile. As it was, this year there would only be stalls.

Personally, he was more interested in the library agenda: the agenda being that nobody borrowed books. Some of the particularly annoying and clueless Class Representatives had suggested that this was because there wasn't anything _interesting_ in the library. He snorted at the recollection. Nothing interesting? It held worlds and galaxies. It held _books_. And he personally knew that it held one dedicated librarian who stayed there for hours after school looking after the books. Some of the students whispered that she had a few screws loose, but as they were the same students that whispered that he was a robot he didn't bother with them.

Without his noticing it, his feet had taken him to the library in question. It did look pretty drab on the outside, he noticed, being made of drab brick that not even the late afternoon sun could improve. Then again, he felt that no self-respecting library should be, say, purple with daisies. It was required for a library, a place that held literature, knowledge, imagination and talent to have a certain air. It was almost a sacred place and should be considered as such.

Within moments of him stepping through the door, the librarian materialised in front of him. She was a rather old lady, her light brown hair streaked with gray and wrinkles visible around her eyes. Her reading glasses hung from a golden chain around her neck and she gave him a nervous smile, rubbing her hands together.

"Good afternoon, Tashita-san," he said respectfully.

"Goo... good afternoon, Sanjou-kun," she answered, her eyes darting from his right eye to his left and back again. He almost looked over his shoulder to check if his aunt was there when she'd mentioned 'Sanjou'.

"Any visitors today, Tashita-san?" he asked, breathing in the air. The library had always had a peculiarly calming effect on him, as though he were safe and cradled amidst the shelves of novels.

"Ye... yes. He's... K-section... behind, sleeping. Sleeping behind," she informed him, much to his surprise. _Nobody_ ever visited the library. Especially not to sleep. Sleep... For some reason, one nasty, totally unfounded suspicion rose up to the forefront of his mind and started to ring alarm bells. But it was totally impossible. Impossible, improbable, unrealistic not to mention stupid and...

... True.

There, among the shelves and napping comfortably stretched out along three cushiony green chairs was Ikuto Tsukiyomi, the Stray Cat. A Power. In a library. Sleeping. With a book open on his lap, Kairi noticed.

He must have sensed the disapproving gaze directed at him because Ikuto lazily cracked open an eye. "Yo, Captain. Did Komi-san tell you I was here?"

"Who?" he asked, confused.

Ikuto rolled his eyes and said slowly, "Komi Tashita, the librarian."

Kairi opened his mouth, furrowed his eyebrow and closed it again. "You're on first-name terms with the librarian?" he said in disbelief. He'd been coming here since Freshman year and still hadn't managed to pry her name out of her and now he finds out that _Ikuto Tsukiyomi_ of all people had. Where was the sense in that? He changed the subject. "What are you reading?"

"_Lord of the Flies_," he replied lazily, waving the book at him. "Fell asleep."

"It's that boring?" he ventured.

"No, I just fell asleep."

Kairi didn't know how to reply to that. He realised that Ikuto wasn't a particularly confrontational character when in one of his better moods. He was always just watching politely and adding some casual-sounding comment every once-in-a-while. And he was always sleeping. And then he reminded himself that just because he was being civil, it didn't mean that Ikuto _liked_ him in any way, shape or form. In fact, Ikuto was now sending him a look that made it clear that he found Kairi's presence very irritating at the moment but was really too lazy to do anything about it, much like a fly. Needless to say, being compared to a bug was enough to shoo him away, to Ikuto's mild pleasure.

The Captain realised he'd never really got around to asking why Ikuto was in the library. Somehow, Ikuto didn't seem like a very bookish person to him. It felt weird. A Power in the library. What did you know? A pig would fly to the moon any day now.

"Have a nice day, Tashita-san," he said politely before leaving.

"You... y-you as well, Sanj... Sanjou-kun," she answered in fragments, jerkily waving him goodbye.

He still didn't get how she could open up to the Stray Cat of all people. He got into fights! It was a well-known fact that he did whatever he felt like and thought he could get away with it. He picked fights, unafraid of getting a bruise or a cut or two and did nothing to hide them. He was a bipolar Stray that was perpetually looking for a chance to sleep or to fight. He decided that next time he dropped by he would warn the librarian what she was getting into when making friends with a known troublemaker.

He had to squint when he stepped outside again, a sliver of the sun shining directly into his eyes and amplified by his glasses. In a few moments, it was completely hidden behind another building. It must have been late. He hurried home: Sanjou would probably be demanding food soon.

-------

Yaya trudged along the street uncertainly, adjusting her bag into a more comfortable position. Well, _technically_ it had to be called a bag as it held the ability to carry utensils and books inside but it seemed much more like a fashion accessory than anything else. The fabric was so flimsy that the moment you tried to place a book roughly the same length and amount of words as _Where's Wally_ in it, it would rip and fall apart. The sun was edging closer to the horizon, casting an orange hue over the buildings. Very few people were aware of the fact that she walked to school and home by herself. It was a universal assumption that the Sassy Witch was picked up by whichever awesome, doting parent the school fantasised to be hers. Dancer, actor, movie director or merely a mysterious woman who'd been widowed four times and inherited huge sums of money – she'd heard it all. And more importantly, she didn't really care so long as they never strayed too close to the truth of the matter.

She'd organised cheerleading practice that afternoon. During that time, she tried to show them who the captain really was and _why_. Some of the older ones, her seniors, didn't take it very well. Traditionally, only Seniors ever became captains but she'd been a special case. Most of it was probably because of the status the being a Power is associated with and a small part of it was because she would be able to revolutionise the team. Already, very few guys dared to refer to the team as a bunch of whores who were merely looking for an excuse to dance skimpily in front of a crowd of hormonally-driven teenage boys. For one thing, their male friends who happened to be fans of Yaya would never stand for it. For another, any girl who preferred respect over derogatory names for anybody in their gender would possibly go up to them and humiliate them in front of the school in some way or another. Still, Yaya didn't really care either way about that, either. Oh, they thought she did because she acted as though she did, but appearances had to be maintained after all.

High school students were just so _petty_. When she first started out, she'd dated a few guys. It had been all good fun at first, not to mention helpfully time-consuming. Then they got clingy and possessive and superior and others started getting jealous. It became a hassle. Besides that, vicious rumours about her spread like wildfire. It didn't matter what she did, whether she stayed with them for a while or broke up with them straight away they talked about it behind her back. She was leading them on or switching men like clothes or toying with them or sleeping around behind their backs or, worse, she was really in love with them. You couldn't do anything _right_ with a boyfriend. Finally, she'd found out that it was actually better for appearances if she didn't have a boyfriend. She became untouchable and the rumours slowed to a fizz.

Her steps slowed to a stop when she reached her house. The sun was dipping into the horizon, the light fast dimming. The windows were dark but she could fool herself into believing that the occupants of the house merely hadn't noticed the darkening sky.

Time. She always looked for ways to waste it after school so that she could avoid going home. Boyfriends had been a good way to do that before she stopped. Now cheerleading practice and shopping replaced them. She always lagged behind after practice, unwilling to leave and perfectly aware how ridiculous it would sound to just about anybody else. But she hated going back to her house. Alone.

It wasn't that she was scared: no, quite the opposite, in fact. If she was attacked, she would welcome the distraction and practice a few of her moves. After all, she was an expert in leaping, kicking, cartwheeling and other such dangerous activities. What she hated was walking in through the front door. Every single time, every afternoon, she would feel a mixture of hope and apprehension as she unlocked the door and prepared herself to turn the doorknob and actually open it.

She fumbled with the keys – one of the only items that the bag could hold – and did slid it into the lock. Swallowing, she proceeded to push the door open.

"Mum? Dad?" she hesitated, "...Tsubasa? I'm home!'" she called out, her throat tight. There was no reply. There never was. It didn't keep her from hoping though, every time she opened that door. It didn't keep her hopes from being crushed, every time the only greeting she received was silence. It didn't keep her from remembering...

--+--

_She skipped in, her large, bulky schoolbag on her back and a small toy sheep under her arm. The door was wide open, welcoming the sunshine and everything else that came with it. It was her father's day off and she was excited. He'd promised that they could go watch a movie._

"_Mummy, Daddy, Tsu-Tsu-chan, I'm home!" she yelled, kicking her shoes off haphazardly as she entered the door. Her father looked up from the coach, grinning broadly._

"_Hey, sweetie," he greeted eyes crinkling in amusement, "How was school?"_

_Yaya made a face. "Some icky boy said that I was ugly, so I kicked him," she proclaimed proudly._

"_Yaya!" her mother said, shocked. She held a bowl and was stirring the contents slowly, having walked into the room to greet her daughter. Her father merely laughed._

"_Who's this?" he asked, spotting the toy cradled protectively in her armpit._

_Yaya held him up proudly. "This's Albie. I won him."_

"_Really?" he asked, smiling. "Where'd you win him from?"_

"_The big machine at the shopping place," she answered promptly._

_Her mother crossed her arms suspiciously. "How did you get the money?" she asked._

"_I bet a boy that I could eat more candy than he could." She looked so clueless and innocent, hugging the little sheep that her father couldn't help but laugh again._

"_And where did you get the money for the candy?" asked her mother, exasperated and just slightly amused._

"_I bet a girl I could do a pirou... pirri... piroui..." her eyebrows scrunched up in concentration as she tried to recall the correct pronunciation. "One of those turning thingies," she finished lamely._

"_Yaya..." her mother started in a warning tone._

_She pouted defiantly. "I didn't get it for me," she whined. "These things are for babies. I got it for Tsu-Tsu-chan!" At these words she melted and exchanged soft smiles with her husband. They'd been worried early on that Yaya would feel left out or replaced if they had another child. And every time, she proved them wrong._

_Yaya bounded towards the crib and found him awake and alert. He smiled and burbled happily when his sister's face came into view. She gently handed him the toy, giggling when he reached up and clasped it in his own, tiny hands and started to nibble on the toy's head._

"_Don't eat Albie, Tsu-Tsu-chan!" she said admonishingly, over-exaggerating her frown as kids often did. She forgave him after he seemed to argue back with a load of nonsense. "Alright then, but you gotta drink lots of milk and eat good so that you grow big and strong! Grow up fast, 'cause I need a playmate," she ordered playfully. "Love you, Tsu-Tsu-chan!"_

--+--

They didn't leave a note. They hadn't left a note explaining their absence for a while now. She sometimes wondered if they even remembered she existed. It couldn't be that easy to forget somebody that you'd taken care of for years could it? But ever since 'Tsu-Tsu' had learnt to talk, this seemed to become increasingly true as the days went by. A large part of her wished that he would've just stayed an incomprehensible baby or... or what? Played dumb? She knew that it wasn't quite right to blame him but she couldn't help it.

Intent on brooding, it took her a while to realise that she was hungry. So she checked the fridge. Then she checked the cupboards. The sink. The lounge room. The master bedroom. There wasn't a decent scrap of food anywhere in the whole house. Despite the rumbling in her stomach brought on by the exercise she'd put her body through that afternoon, she guessed she'd have to go without.

She had to admit that being on a diet was easier than it should've normally been. For her at least, there wasn't even the question of willpower in the face of temptation. Sometimes, she couldn't believe how lucky she really was.

Her eyes stung. When she reached up to rub them, she found that they were also inexplicably wet. Her nose felt strange as well. It must've been the dust, she reasoned, since nobody really took care of the place very well anymore.

And, alone and hungry in an empty house full of shadows, the 'Sassy Witch' head cheerleader silently cried herself to sleep.

~*~

**A/N:** Be warned: I've got a lot more planned for Yaya. Ahah... Ahaha... Ahahaha... AHAHAHAHAHA! Ahem. Happy reading, everybody!


	21. Another Pairing Up

**A/N: **Yes, yes! I know! I deserve to, like, rot in a horrible little hole somewhere seeing as I pretty much went AWOL, or at least MIA for the past few... months. Throw rotten vegetables or whatever you wish. I've had so much to deal with lately it's unbelievable. School is a large factor, but there've been these crazy personal problems and I just couldn't find the time nor the will until now. Anyway, sorry and thank you to those that are still reading this. Oh yes, and I've decided to change the genre from Drama to Humour since this story is taking on a completely different tone to the one that I'd planned. I'm really sorry, but I don't think I can answer most of your reviews but I'll try my best to answer most of them from now on. One more thing...

**The Breakfast Club:** I swear I really had no idea the movie existed when I started writing this story. Sometime around chapter ten or so I watched it and it is _awesome_. I hadn't used this idea for my story but you may or may not see minute influences from the movie later on. I highly recommend the movie: it's an oldie but a goody.

_**~PAGEBREAK~**_

**Another Pairing Up**

Sanjou was actually early, brimming with energy and almost humming while clutching a stack of sheets to her chest. Kairi and Nikaido alone knew exactly why although the Powers could tell that it had something to do with whatever torture they would be put through that day. Her bright mood completely unnerved the teenagers and lone adult who were witness to it. Tadase wondered whether he was too young to draw up a will because something told him that he would not make it out of the next ordeal.

Yaya, Amu, Tadase and oddly enough, Ikuto and Utau were the early ones that day. The anticipation of what horror they were to be facing was slowly driving them insane and they almost wished that the others would just arrive so that they could get it over with. When Sanjou started to whistle jauntily, a shiver passed through their spines and they were sure that somewhere, somehow, somebody had just passed away. None of them dared to interrupt however, which would have pleased her, had she been paying attention to them at all. Instead, she was happily considering the immediate future in which the Powers would be forced to participate in something even more horrible than the therapy sessions.

Finally, Yaya straightened and sniffed the air. "I smell devoted fanboys. Goldilocks is here," she announced just a moment before Rima rounded the corners in her throne.

"How'd you do that?" asked Ikuto. Yaya shrugged.

Rima haughtily stepped down from the throne and gave the closest boy a pat on the head. When she faced the group after they scurried away, she froze dead in her tracks. With narrowed eyes she asked suspiciously, "Why's Sanjou so... happy?"

Sanjou tutted and waved a hand at her airily. "What are you talking about, Mashiro-san? I'm always a happy-go-lucky person," she grinned. Eight faces showed varying degrees of horror and everybody took a step away from the alien that had replaced their despised but familiar teacher. The fact that she didn't react violently to their behaviour was frightening.

The sound of a bouncing ball broke into their reverie to the relief of the teenagers. "The Snake's slithered in at last," said Ikuto as though they didn't know. Nagihiko gave them a puzzled smile, bewildered by their strange behaviour. That is, until Sanjou greeted him with a smile as bright as his usually was, causing even his smile to momentarily melt away. His body had frozen mid-bounce so his ball escaped and bounced away.

And then Kukai arrived, completing the set. "What's goin' on?" he asked with a yawn. He glanced at Sanjou and then at Nagi before doing a quick double-take. His face paled and he stared at the teacher with wide eyes, voice dying in his throat. This could not be good.

And then she giggled, making everyone flinch and seriously consider running as fast as they could in the opposite direction. Those giggles had not been normal, 'happy' giggles or even 'embarrassed' giggles or 'schoolgirl' giggles but the giggles of a person who was about to torture and gruesomely murder a stranger merely because the disembodied voice in her head told her that it was the only way she could save the unicorns. Plus it would be _fun_.

"U-um, shall I explain the point system first?" Nikaido asked Sanjou. She nodded with a smirk.

"Can't we go in first?" asked Tadase, wondering what they were still doing outside.

"No, not yet," Sanjou replied. She gave Nikaido a look. "Go on."

"Well," he started, "basically, it's a system that we came up with to keep you from misbehaving too badly and give you incentive to do well."

"What incentive could _you_ possibly give us?" Yaya snorted.

Nikaido gave a long-suffering sigh. "One-week immunity," he stated, knowing that this was a bad idea, "to anything short of violence or something that this school may be sued for."

The Powers perked up at the prospect of a full week without adults trying to control them. Whether this was worth their full cooperation or not was still debatable though.

"And anybody whose points fall below twenty-five will have janitorial duties," Nikaido kept on. "Once your points fall to zero, your parents will be contacted. If you fall below negative twenty, those pictures of you in frilly aprons or any subsequent pictures taken will mysteriously appear around the school."

"Isn't that, like, illegal?" said Yaya, shocked beyond words. With nerves already frazzled by the oddly acting Sanjou, the Powers really weren't sure how much more they could handle at almost nine in the morning.

"You can't prove anything," Nikaido countered, oddly cheered up by the thought of one of the teenagers losing self-respect, dignity and arrogance in one fell swoop. "Oh yes, and the winner will be able to retrieve all photos of themselves and copies thereof at the end."

Sanjou decided in that moment to pipe up with a jovial "And trust me, there _are_ copies."

"Points may be added or taken away at will by us, the teachers, as well as the Captain," he finished.

"Wait, the _Captain_? But he's biased!" protested Utau.

"Five points from Hoshina for insinuating that I could be anything but fair," declared Kairi smugly. The teachers had put a five-point deduction limit at a time on him but the others didn't have to know that. Nikaido made a note of the deduction on a sheet.

"So why's Sanjou dancing with joy?" inquired Nagihiko politely.

Nikaido smiled thinly. "Sanjou-_sensei_ is happy because we will be relieved of the responsibility of making sure none of you die for over an hour at least, which will be handed over to the person inside this dreaded room." He opened the door and gestured for everyone else to enter before following them in and locking the door.

The Powers were acting... unsure, which was definitely new. The already spacious room had been cleared of all furniture except for a single chair and table. The chair was occupied with a slim but tall woman. On the table rested a stereo. The teenagers stood – or mostly slouched – awkwardly near the entrance as though they were afraid to find out what they would have to do next.

"This is Lorika," Sanjou introduced to them. "And, now that you can't escape, I will explain what it is that we plan to do."

Very quietly, several of the Powers gulped.

**-lll-**

"So..." concluded Tadase in a strangled voice, "you want us to learn to _dance_ with a preordained partner so that we can _lead_ the dance at the _Festival_ with this same partner?"

Sanjou paused to think for a moment. "That seems about right."

"No way in hell," said Utau bluntly.

"I mean, _why_?" asked Kukai, reeling from the shock. "Why do you want to force us to... _dance_?"

"We thought that getting you to be able to touch each other without causing bodily pain might be a good way to start," explained Sanjou. "Mostly, though, you've just been causing me too many headaches."

This seemed to be more like the Sanjou that they knew. That didn't mean they were going to dance, of course.

Sanjou held up a finger and said, "Wait, there's more. Your partners were chosen according to a school survey that was handed out yesterday." She could literally see suspicion budding in their minds as they hoped against hope that the survey wasn't as bad as they thought it was. "The survey went something along the lines of... 'If the Powers ever hooked up with each other, who would you want them to be paired with and why?'"

The teachers noted with interest that the Powers seemed to have developed a few interesting facial tics in the period of time in which they'd heard those damning words.

"So," said Utau through gritted teeth, "this is like... fan service for the entire school?"

Sanjou nodded. "Exactly."

"And the school wants... which pairings?" inquired Nagihiko, smile frozen.

"Let's see..." Sanjou leafed through a sheaf of paper. "They want Ikuto and Utau together, Yaya and Kukai, Rima and Tadase and Nagi and Amu." She looked back up to be greeted with looks of open horror, disgust and confusion.

"They'd pair me up with the pink punk wannabe?" said Nagihiko while somehow managing to convey his revulsion through a bright and frigid smile.

"At least I'm not a girlish, creepy, grinning freak," Amu shot back.

"Oh look, it talks," replied Nagihiko, feigning surprise.

Meanwhile, Kukai finally recovered from his shock. "Me and the _Witch_? Just... me, and the _Witch_. In what universe could this possibly make sense?"

"Yeah, plus Fried Chicken is disgusting and greasy and full of fat and not good for my health," Yaya whined.

He looked at her, affronted. "Did you just call me fat?"

"If the shoe fits..."

"I'll have you know that I don't have an ounce of fat on my entire body. Chicks dig my muscles."

"Excuse me," said Rima, butting in and for once not looking entirely distanced from everybody else, "but why am I paired with the flowery, sparkly, flouncy cry-baby of a teacher's pet?"

Tadase shot her a look of dislike. "I really think that submitting a student such as myself to this sort of hazardous–"

Utau snorted. "Look, you're a falsely modest, crafty, egotistical pig. Anybody who knows you would love to bring you down a peg or two."

"Oh, and I suppose you think you know me?" he said disbelievingly.

"No, and I don't want to."

A shrill, high note pierced through the air, causing everyone to flinch and put their hands over their ears. Sanjou had blown a whistle which she'd bought the day before in preparation to this event. She was glad to see that it was just as effective as and even more irritating than Nikaido's coughs.

"If you'd have just _listened_, I'd tell you why," she said, honey dripping from every word. "They paired Utau and Ikuto together because of the height and eye-colour and because Utau's celebrity status and Ikuto's mysteriousness seem to fit together." Sanjou thought for a moment. "I have no idea what teenagers think nowadays."

"Eye-colour? The Kitty has an eye-colour?" echoed Kukai. He knew Utau's eyes were purple, thanks to all their staring contests and arguments and that afternoon with the paint. Ikuto spent so much of his time with his eyes closed that he wondered how the student body even knew what he looked like with them open.

Utau rolled her own eyes, and answered sarcastically, "No, idiot, he has black holes where the eyes should be."

"Apparently, their eyes are the exact same shade of purple," read Sanjou, surprised. It wasn't as though she paid much attention to their eye-colour either.

"Scary. I mean, how often do you see people with purple eyes walking around?" Yaya commented.

"I think the one with yellow eyes is scarier," Ikuto spoke up. "I mean, who's ever heard of someone with yellow eyes?"

"Yellow eyes? Who?" Utau looked around.

"They also have pink hair. It's probably dyed though," said Rima, eying the person in question distastefully.

"And blue and purple-haired freaks are normal?" Amu shot back, irritated.

"Hey, what can I say?" shrugged Ikuto, "I'm a special little flower."

Everyone just looked at him strangely, wondering what on Earth went on in that mind of his. The comments he made got stranger and stranger. _Meow. Mind-perverts. Frosty. Laundry. Things devouring you before taking over. The smell of salt. Stick insect. _And now he was a '_special little flower_'.

"You're special, alright" commented Nagihiko drily.

Sanjou heaved a heartfelt sigh. "Why must it take us half an hour to get through something that should take less than a minute?" she asked aloud. "Do you or do you not want me to continue?"

They quieted down so that they could learn what the heck the rest of the school was thinking, much to her relief. The Powers were acutely aware that if they didn't settle down at least a little bit, Sanjou could just stop them from procrastinating and send them out to _dance_ without explanation.

"They paired Yuiki-san and Souma together as, well, one is the cheerleading captain and one is the football captain and they're convinced that some behind-the-scenes drama is happening or, in other words, 'sexual tension'," she said, making quotation marks with her fingers at the appropriate places. The ill look on their faces instantly made her feel better. Making the Powers uncomfortable was almost as good a pick-me-up as a strong, steaming cup of coffee. An added bonus was that Kukai was too shocked to even notice the sudden drop of his honorific.

"Sexual tension between you and... the Witch? Seriously?" snorted Utau in amusement.

"Shut it," he snarled, green at the thought that the school might actually believe there was anything except mutual loathing between him and Yaya.

"_Hotori-san and Mashiro-san_," Sanjou cut in hurriedly before the conversation had any time to escalate or go off-topic, "were paired together as the 'royal duo' in the group. Plus they're both blonde and their heights match."

"I thought we already went through the lake thing?" protested Tadase.

Kukai smirked. "I'd make an obvious innuendo out of your past situation, but seeing as how it would probably be bad in the long-run, I'll refrain from doing so."

"Wise move, Souma-san," acknowledged Nikaido.

It took a great amount of effort for Sanjou to keep from rolling her eyes. "Lastly, Hinamori-san and Fujisaki were paired for contrast: purple and pink, intellectual smile and bored scowl, viciousness and apathy." Then, abruptly, she changed the subject. "This instructor may take off or add as many points as she would like, so behave and have fun. Any questions? None? Alrighty then, get into partners, children."

They didn't move.

"I'm disappointed in you. Five points off everyone," she called out, jotting it down in a notebook that had been somewhere in the large pile of papers she'd been carrying.

"What? No way!" Kukai protested.

"Five points off Souma," she muttered, her pen marking it down.

Finally the Powers began to move, albeit grumbling all the while. Words such as "devil", "tyranny", "oppression" and "cruel and unusual punishment" were all mumbled loud enough for the teachers to hear. They went ignored.

"Just be grateful I didn't follow the overwhelmingly popular vote for Souma and Fujisaki," she called cheerfully, laughing when they both choked on the thought.

Their so-called 'instructor' stood at last and smiled at them. It was a business smile, large and wide and shiny without a hint of anything behind it. The Powers realised this at once, as well as realising that they had come to associate fake smiles solely with Nagihiko. They couldn't help but wonder if the smile infringed any copyright laws. Well, the fact that the woman wasn't wearing glasses was a calming one at least. She couldn't be _that _bad.

"Hello, I am Lorika and I will be overseeing your re-education for today," she greeted them an unidentifiable accent colouring her words. Kukai was too busy contemplating a world in which he and Nagihiko could _ever_ be a couple to even think about hitting on her.

"Ready to begin?" she asked.

"No."

"Too bad."

_**~PAGEBREAK~**_

**A/N:** So yes, I pretty much spelled it out for you guys when I wrote "festival", but there's still way more to come, especially in terms of romantic development. Rimahiko fans will be the first to get a major moment but that's all I'm saying. I've also noticed that all my little breaks and things have stopped working but I really couldn't be bothered going back and fixing them up so you'll just have to suffer for a while. Until next time my dear, loyal readers.


	22. Venting and Arguments

**A/N:** Look, look, an update! Um... nothing much else to say, so let's keep it brief, eh?

**xR:** When it comes to things like eye-colour, I go with the anime and in the anime, Ikuto's eyes are purple. Besides, the fact that Ikuto and Utau have the same eye-colour will probably be important. And yes, don't you love it when Ikuto actually has a personality that has nothing to do with girls and his relation to them? But you'll still have to be patient for a little it longer (Herculean effort already, by the way, for making it this far!)**  
**

**XxxYaYxxX:** I'm lazy, so read the first sentence of **xR**'s reply. And it's great to be back. But you might have to let go otherwise I can't type and we wouldn't want that to happen, would we?

**anime artist:** Thanks, I'm trying to keep you guys off your feet without introducing aliens or something, you know? It's nice to know that it's working for at least some of my readers.

**~PAGEBREAK~**

**Venting and Arguments**

Lorika had managed, after much time and effort, to get the Powers to stand together, get into the correct positions and actually touch each other without inflicting as much pain as they would otherwise have.

"Ouch!" Tadase cried out for the hundredth time. "Could you stop that?"

"Stop what?" asked Rima innocently right before her heeled foot slammed down on his once more while digging her nails deeply into his hand.

"_That_," he hissed with a heated glare.

Rima put on a show of being insulted. "I'm _clumsy_ – everyone knows that my sporting skill is perhaps a touch below perfect." Then she slammed the dreaded foot down again, eliciting another yelp from her partner. "What, are you going to cry again?"

Tadase visibly snapped. "I don't know who you think you _are_, but I'm sure that everybody is sick and tired of you acting like you're better than everyone around you."

"Oh? As opposed to your 'holier than thou' attitude?" she asked, her words laced with acid. "At least I don't seriously pretend that I'm some little angel who had never sinned or thought of sinning before!"

"What would a spoiled, little rich-girl know of anything?" During this time, they'd both stepped away from each other and drawn attention to themselves. For some reason, Lorika had decided to watch this argument rather than interfere, much to the curiosity of everyone else. It was strange enough that Nikaido and Sanjou decided to watch her watch them.

Rima clenched her jaw in uncharacteristic fury. "What would a _pretentious, self-righteous, ignorant, hypocritical, judgemental_ _asshole –_"

Sanjou broke in hesitatingly. "Swear jar...?"

Without looking, Rima tossed a credit card in their general direction and continued in her rant. "What would an _asshole_ like you know? Stop acting as though you're always so praise-worthy and free of sin!"

During this argument, Sanjou had sidled up to Lorika, to whom she'd offered full control of the Powers and their punishments during the time that she was to be teaching them. From the corner of her mouth, she asked, "Why aren't you stopping them? It'll get violent soon."

Lorika tapped her chin thoughtfully, still watching with interest. "They have not become violent yet," she replied, "and these are things that have to be said before any progress can be made." This made Sanjou pause and think. Even back in high school, Lorika had always been more perceptive than she would ever be when it came to dealing with people. They'd never been friends, but they hadn't been enemies either.

Meanwhile, the squabble continued. "You know what?" Tadase spat, "You wouldn't know anything about reality! You spend enough to buy a house at a time and you wouldn't get into any trouble because your dear mommy and daddy would _dote_ on a brat –" He broke off. It was rather hard for him to continue seeing as a palm had just struck his cheek. His hand came up to cradle the side of his face as he looked at the girl.

She looked calm. Not a speck of emotion showed on her face, as though she were fashioned from marble. _Or ice_, thought Tadase. Never before had he seen her live up to her nickname as much as she was now. After a pause, she spoke; "I'm sorry – I thought I saw a cockroach. Evidently, I forgot that you _were_ the cockroach."

"Minus fifteen points, Mashiro!" yelled Sanjou after she gathered her wits again.

Kukai was about to comment on the fact that she'd dropped the '-san' at the end of the name but was prevented from doing so by a yawn.

Lorika let out a sigh and walked to the middle of the room. "Now that you are done, perhaps we could get back to the dancing?" she suggested, glancing at the couples who had fervently been wiping their hands on their clothing in case the other Power had contaminated it somehow. "Remember: backs straight, arms high, chin up and smile! One, two, three..."

Heated glances were exchanged with a message along the lines of: _I'd tell you to burn in hell but we're already there_.

**-lll-**

"Why is it always you?" ground out an extremely annoyed Kukai. The effect was ruined when he yawned loudly immediately afterwards.

"I'm not all that ecstatic either, you know," answered Yaya with a sneer. "You've probably contracted so many AIDS that you could give them to me just by holding hands." Then Yaya seemed to have an epiphany. Her eyes widened and a triumphant look graced her features as she smiled sassily up at the older boy, utterly confusing him.

"Uh... I know you can't resist me for long, but you're _really_ not my type," he said, deciding to go with the egotistical route.

Yaya snorted. "If you imply that I'm even remotely interested in a Chicken again, I really will knee you _down there_ instead of just fantasising about it," she threatened. It was actually very effective and caused him to pale slightly.

"You know, you'd be doing womankind a great disservice if you do that," he protested weakly.

"It'd be a huge _favour_. I'd probably get a medal for it." Yaya grimaced and looked away when Kukai yawned widely again. "Your breath stinks."

"Look, I'm too tired to deal with you, alright, Witch?" he mumbled irritably.

"What, did your latest conquest keep you up? Who was it this time?" said Yaya, a scathing look in her eye.

"Shut up," he grumbled.

Yaya let out a mocking laugh. "Ooh, how witty. I can see how your charms would woo any girl. Your 'shut up's must set their hearts fluttering." He didn't reply, fighting back another yawn. She really wished that they could just get this over with already.

**-lll-**

"Wow, your eyes really are freaky," said Nagihiko conversationally. In all outward appearances he looked as though he was enjoying the dance. If you didn't know anything about him, you might think that his occasional treading on Amu's toes was accidental and that his grip on her waist was merely firm rather than painfully tight.

Amu scowled, trying unsuccessfully to look as though this didn't bother her in the least. Not the grip, the stepping on toes, the blunt remarks and most especially not that creepy smile. "Yeah, and?"

"Pink hair, too," continued Nagihiko serenely. "Why dye your hair pink if you want to give off an 'I don't give a damn' vibe?"

"It's natural, alright?" she snarled before trying to get a grip on herself. He wasn't worth having her parents called up for. "And if you want to talk about appearances, why would _you_ dye your hair _purple_ if you want to give off an 'I'm so dangerous' vibe?"

"Oh, touché," Nagihiko grinned, nodding appreciatively. "Perhaps the sulky one has half a brain cell after all."

Amu glared at him. "Sulky?"

His smile seemed to widen. "You don't expect us to believe the bull...crap you spout, do you? You're not as tough as you act, you little drama queen. Your whole persona is just you sulking over something that you think has gone oh-so-_horribly_ wrong in your life." He looked reptilian, like a cobra enchanting a rodent.

Amu was too enraged to talk. Habit took over and she stepped back, slapping his hands away. "Hey, I dunno if you're delusional or what, but don't drag your fantasies onto me." Her expression of boredom and her stand-offish stance would have driven her fans into a frenzy, yelling 'Cool and Spicy' until they fainted from sheer joy. In that room, however, with those people, she was barely spared a second glance.

"You've never been in a proper fight before, have you?" asked Nagihiko abruptly. "In the rumours you can beat several men into a pulp but I'll bet you've never been in a real fight. Rumours might protect you from the average school bully, but unless you've got anything to back them up with you're asking for trouble."

"That a threat, Snake?" she asked, looking pissed off. It was all bravado. She really had never been in a physical fight since one she'd had when she was four. Seeing as this probably didn't count, she was scared to death of the reputedly violent and unpredictable student facing her.

"No, this is just a friendly, neighbourhood warning," he said in a chipper tone. "I don't like hitting weaklings – there's only been exception to this so far - guess who it is. Hint: he'd be gobbled up by a Kitty in a second."

Amu blinked, unsure if Nagihiko was making fun of her, threatening her or merely trying to confuse her. Whichever one, he was achieving all intended effects. Everything added to her irritation and embarrassment until all she wanted to do was go home, curl up in her bed and never emerge ever again.

"Well, may I have another dance, Cash?" he smiled when she didn't respond.

"... Cash?"

"For 'Cool and Spicy Hinamori' – only an idiot wouldn't get that straight away."

It took Amu a while to figure out that he was insulting her. He was back to looking open and harmless, his smile deceitfully tranquil. In truth, it really creeped her out. A shiver worked its way up her spine but she managed to suppress it before he noticed and merely shifted weight and looked just as though she felt utterly indifferent. This seemed to further amuse Nagihiko.

But, he thought, perhaps they weren't so different after all. It still didn't mean that he'd like her at all; it was just... interesting.

**-lll-**

Ikuto and Utau avoided each other's eyes in silence. If anybody else hadn't been too caught up in their own matters, they would have noticed that the pair was acting very strange. The greatest abnormality was the fact that Utau wasn't screaming, yelling or trying to injure him in any way. Both of them weren't grimacing and moaning like the others and appeared to be distracted somehow. Ikuto knew how odd they looked, getting along.

"Stomp on my foot or something," he whispered into her ear hurriedly.

"Why...?" she protested, pulling back to meet his gaze.

Looking away, he reminded her, "You hate me, remember?"

"But Ikuto..."

"Utau!" he scolded. When he felt her trembling, he sighed and said, "Fine, just stomp next to my foot. The Sidekick's watching."

She complied although she didn't put any heart into the stomp. Ikuto sighed.

"Come on, you stomp like a girl."

She glared at him, not in the least amused by his attempt at a joke. "I am a girl, Ikuto."

"That's Kitty to you, Flaming Star," he said, "and the fact that you are a girl doesn't give you any license to stomp like one."

Her booted foot suddenly went down again with more of her usual passion this time. "Fine. Whatever you say, Kitty."

"That's better," he answered, satisfied.

**-lll-**

Nikaido's attention had continued to be drawn to Ikuto and Utau throughout the lesson. They really didn't seem their usual selves. They didn't even seem to be firing insults at each other like the rest of the Powers. Perhaps this was so humiliating for them that they decided to treat the lesson like a dream or something, but he doubted that they would treat each other civilly even in a dream. Perhaps they were planning something, or...

"Hey, do you think that Hoshina could be in love with Tsukiyomi?" he asked Sanjou who had been relaxing next to him. At these words she shot up, spluttering incoherently with shock and horror.

"No," she denied emphatically, "_definitely_ not."

"Or," continued Nikaido as though he didn't hear her, "they could be relatives. That would explain the eye-colour. Hey, maybe they're secretly siblings!"

Sanjou shook her head despairingly. "No way in hell. For one thing, Tsukiyomi transferred in whereas Hoshina had always come here. Their surnames are different. They have different addresses. She dresses in designer clothing while he turns up in dirty clothes," she ticked the reasons for it being impossible for them to be siblings off her fingers.

"Okay, okay," Nikaido gave in. "But you have to say that it's pretty freaky how they both have the same weird eye-colour. How often does that happen, eh?"

Sanjou shrugged. "Maybe they both wear contacts."

"Because they're secretly in love," he added brightly. He ducked immediately after that and avoided Sanjou's incoming slap. "I was joking, joking. Can't you tell?"

"Then why don't you joke about less improbable matters?" she sniffed.

"But... but the point to the joke is the very improbability of it..." He let out a breath when she stopped paying attention to him and mumbled, "I'll be quiet now."

"Thank God," Sanjou retorted.

**~PAGEBREAK~**

**A/N:** You know, I looked back at the earlier chapters of the fic and find that I'm now _extremely_ glad I started writing this story. I think that my writing skills have improved (however minutely) over time. Then again, I may just be deluding myself, but it's a happy delusion while it lasts. Thanks for reading!**  
**


	23. Play or Kiss

**A/N:** Okay, I haven't replied to most of you. I'm sorry, but it's starting to take longer to reply than it is to write a chapter and I just don't have that much time any more. So, I propose a semi-solution. If you really want me to reply to a review or you have a serious question/complaint, tell me in your review to PM you and I'll bump you to the top of the waiting list. Sounds good? Now, to find out how many people actually read the damn A/N and how many will continue to complain about the pairings even though I've reiterated myself half a dozen times. Should I repeat? Amuto, Rimahiko, Kutau with _possible_ Kaiya and Yuutari.

**~PAGEBREAK~**

**Play or Kiss**

Sanjou hummed slightly, having never known peace such as the one she was experiencing now. Classical-sounding music wafted around the room and it had been over five minutes since any of the Powers had uttered a sound of pain or malice. This was absolute bliss.

"Yukari-chan," Lorika called, amusement colouring her voice.

Sanjou grudgingly opened her eyes. "We're on business. I'm Sanjou-sensei to you at the moment."

Lorika nodded in acquiescence. "Alright then, 'Sanjou-sensei', my hour is up. I am afraid that you will have to deal with these devil-brats yourself."

"Well, you've been paid already. See you next time," said Sanjou.

"I am looking forward to it," Lorika replied. Nikaido quickly unlocked the door for her and relocked it again after she left.

Sanjou heaved a very heartfelt sigh. It felt good, so she let out another one as well. She had mixed feelings about the next activity that they would be making the Powers do – to bond, of course, not as payback for years of teacher abuse. It would be delicious to watch the Powers squirm but she _knew_ that they would make her life even more of a living hell in retaliation. They'd been surprisingly obedient up until now, after all.

But of course she couldn't be seen to be anything but evilly confident in her plans. Teenagers could smell uncertainty a mile off, especially the Phoenix and Snake. Those two creeped her out sometimes. Actually, most of them did every now and then. It was in their nature.

Sanjou steeled herself and stood up to face the Powers who were busy dusting themselves off with disgusted looks on their faces.

"Alright. Don't think that we're over the topic of the Festival yet," she warned them.

Kukai gave her an exasperated look. "What're you going to make us do now? Dance around wearing cow suits?"

Sanjou paused thoughtfully for a moment. "Very close, actually. We – and when I say 'we' I mean 'you' – are going to put on a play."

"A... what?" asked Tadase hopefully in case he had misheard.

"A play," she repeated serenely. "A play of the fairytale variety. One that involves a kiss."

There was a short silence.

"Oh, _hell_ no," said Yaya.

"You're insane," Utai stated flatly. "Utterly insane."

"I feel like I'm gonna throw up," muttered Kukai, gagging.

Ikuto looked around. "I think that it's a safe bet to say that we are _not_ doing it."

"Oh, grow up," said Sanjou, fed up with their behaviour. "Seriously, the whole 'cooties' thing is growing really old. I thought you guys didn't believe in love? If that's so, then it should be just a kiss to you, right?"

"I might not believe in love, but I do believe in privacy," snapped Utau. "Getting someone that I hate to plant his mouth – and only God knows where that would have been – over mine in front of the school happens to be a _breach_ of privacy. Shocking, I know."

"Well, that's what you get for ridiculing the teachers and undermining our authority every opportunity you get, isn't it?" said Sanjou sweetly.

"Of course," Nikaido broke in hurriedly, "we're giving you a chance to not be the kissing couple. We're having auditions."

"Have you had head trauma recently? Perhaps you're overworked?" suggested Ikuto. "Whatever it is, it's clearly affecting your mental health if you think that any of us are going to try to get a part in which we will do what is possibly the last thing in the world that we wanna do."

Kairi sighed. "We're not making you audition to get the part; we're making you audition to _not_ get the part. Whoever, well, sucks the most will be given the lead roles. It's an inverse audition, if you will."

"What if I don't audition?" asked Amu after they'd had the chance to contemplate the offer.

"Then you automatically receive the lead role," answered Nikaido.

"What if we all refuse to audition?" asked Kukai hopefully.

Sanjou smiled, sending chills down their spines. "Oh, please do. If you do, we'll create our own play and assign you all multiple kisses."

Kairi coughed then and stepped forward, waving a camera. "As further incentive for you to take this seriously, I have taken pictures of you while you were dancing. This is not blackmail," he added, just to emphasise the point that it was.

They stared at him, hatred visible in their eyes. It gave him a nice, warm feeling to know that he was the one with the upper hand for once. Then again, he also knew that he would have to be extremely careful outside of school in case they pounced on him and beat him to a bloody pulp. His smile didn't falter but that warm feeling evaporated.

"...Are you a ninja?" asked Ikuto.

"Oh, you're awake, Kitty?" said Kukai, feigning surprise. When he tried to stifle a yawn, Ikuto smirked.

"You obviously aren't," he observed.

Sanjou sighed and placed a small stack of paper on the single table in the room. "Moving on, we're going to be doing _Cinderella_ as our play. On the table is a section of the script. The guys will enact the Prince's monologue and the girls will enact Cinderella's little speech. You have ten minutes to memorise them in absolute silence and then you will audition. No questions."

They had three options. Try, kiss or get their parents called up. Kissing was unthinkable. Having their parents called up would contain dire consequences. The least painful option was for them to swallow their pride and try. Not that that wouldn't already be painful enough.

Well, it wasn't as though the rest of the student body were here and they could always hope that a meteor struck the school on the day of the festival. Or maybe everybody else in the room could contract a semi-fatal disease.

"Cinderella. Seriously?" muttered Utau, trying to resign herself to the idea.

Sanjou arched an eyebrow. "You have an objection, Hoshina-san?"

"Cinderella's just... Urgh, no," she answered, unable to find the right answer.

"What she _means_," said Rima condescendingly, causing Utau to shoot daggers at her with her eyes, "is that the prospect of partaking in a play which preaches that young girls should be good housekeepers, modest, obedient and want nothing more than to _marry_, is not the most appealing one in the world. Or in her words; 'urgh, no'."

"You don't know how close you are to being stabbed in the eyes with a pen, do you?" Kairi said casually, observing the way that Utau's fingers were twitching. He was beginning to think that the females in the group were more violent than the males. After all, it was mostly Kukai and Nagihiko tap dancing on each other's nerves and Tadase's extreme dislike for Ikuto fuelling the confrontations. Plus, Tadase's bark was worse than his bite. Plus, they mostly played fair – even Nagihiko. Now that he thought about it, there were a lot of rumours surrounding the girls' interactions with each other.

"Thanks, Princess, I really needed somebody to put words in my mouth," said Utau. Sanjou wondered when sarcasm became such a trend among teenagers. She was sure that it was nowhere near as prominent when she was their age. Her eye twitched. That thought had just made her sound like an old hag.

"Oh?" asked Rima, putting on a show of being surprised. "So you don't think that the story is a sexist, chauvinistic tale used by guys to oppress women?"

"Hey, it's just some stupid fairytale," said Amu, acting unaffected.

"And that shows what you know," said Rima.

"Fine, we won't do Cinderella; the play did annoy me for some reason," muttered Sanjou, "but you're still going to be using that script for your auditions. You're wasting time, so skip! Skedaddle! Find a nice, soft spot on the floor somewhere in the room and leave me in peace."

"You know, whoever made you a teacher must've been whacked in the head," commented Kukai.

"Minus five points, Souma. Now hop to it or kiss Yaya in front of the whole school and prove them right about the sexual tension," she said off-handedly.

Kukai did a double-take. "Wait, what?"

"I said, get cracking."

"Right." He left, rather confused. Teachers did not use terms like 'sexual tension' in casual conversation and thinking that a teacher might be human too was giving him the creeps.

**-lll-**

"You know, I should be in class," Kairi said finally, after five minutes of silence. "What if my grades drop?"

Sanjou snorted. "You're already ahead of the class by a week and still study like heck at home. This won't hurt your marks."

"There's the library too..."

"Library, shmibrary," Sanjou flapped a hand dismissively. "None of the students care. They might if you get one of the Powers to go for it."

"It'd merely turn into a popularity contest," he said stiffly. "There'd be no meaning in that."

"Well, isn't this more entertaining anyway?" She glanced at her watch, taking amusement from how resentfully the Powers were trying to memorise their short script.

"You were complaining yesterday about how you were growing old before your time, thanks to them," Kairi pointed out.

"Me? I'm young and beautiful and no group of surly, rebellious teens can change that," she said.

"You're hardly young," he corrected her. Nikaido, overhearing this, sniggered.

She glared at her nephew. "That includes you, Kairi."

Nikaido coughed to hide his amusement. "So, I think that it should be about time for the auditions."

"You need to get a cough lolly or something," she said irately.

"I thought you liked my cough. Wasn't it the reason you invited me to join this wacky crew?" He flashed her a smile that wasn't quite charming but was warm. He earned a light smack in the back of the head for it.

"Call us a 'wacky crew' again and I'll pull all your curly hair out one by one."

Nikaido considered this threat. "It's not curly, it's wavy. Alright, time's up!" The last sentence was directed to the whole room. "Captain, who should go first?"

"Souma," he said without missing a beat.

"Alright, Chi – Souma-san, you heard the Captain, you're up first."

Kukai narrowed his eyes at Nikaido. "Were you about to call me -?"

"No."

Kukai opened his mouth but realised that anything he said would be pointless. He let out a breath and looked over the script again. It was a monologue from the prince after dancing with the 'mysterious beauty', claiming that she would be his wife. Well, this could be right up in his alley if he found the right angle. He could pretend he was trying to impress some really hot chic, although he wondered how acting like a pansy could be in any way impressive.

"Um," he said.

"Real impressive," drawled Nagihiko. Kaukai shot him a filthy look and started again.

"Who was that? She was enchanting; such grace, such beauty! And in her eyes, such gentleness as I have never seen before." He cleared his throat and took a moment to read through the script again, reminding himself that this was an unfortunately necessary torture. "While we danced, time appeared to slow, showing clearly her smile, her laugh. She has, uh, taken my heart as her captive and I shall take her as my, uh, wife."

"After knowing her for about an hour, he decides to marry her without even asking her permission first. Stupid," Rima remarked.

"Yeah, I mean, who wants to be tied down to some virgin for the rest of their lives?" said Kukai, breaking out of his already uncertain character.

"Just shut up Chicken or I'll break your scrawny neck," hissed Utau.

"Minus five points for both Hoshina-san and Souma-san," called Sanjou, noting it down. "Alright, continue."

Kukai scowled. "Right. Uh. But as the clock chimed midnight, she fled as though demons were after her. All that she, my enchantress, left behind was a slipper. I, um, do not know anything about her – her name, her home, her life... her cup-size," he added.

"Alright, that ends your audition," Sanjou announced abruptly.

"Oh, come on, I was getting into it," he lied.

"Hinamori-san, your turn," said Sanjou.

Amu blinked but dutifully got up with her usual air of indifference. She pretended not to completely freak out about performing a monologue in which the character whines about how her life was totally horrible and how much she wanted to go to some fancy dress party. Especially considering her audience.

"Do the laundry, she says!" she started off weakly. The others would have had to strain to hear, if they were at all interested. "Laundry! On a day such as this?"

Sanjou tapped her pen against her notebook. "Speak up," she commanded.

A pink tinge coloured Amu's cheeks as her nervousness intensified. "O-on a day when I could- when I could be dancing at a ball!" Her cheeks reddened with each stutter, to the sneers of the other Powers. "Dancing, um, dancing with the - the handsome prince! Instead, my stepmother has... my stepmother has gone with my wretched stepsiblings in an attempt -"

The script fell from her trembling fingers to the floor and she instantly forgot her place. The silence that this was greeted with unnerved her further. She _wished_ that they'd laughed; anything would have been better than the uninterrupted sound of her heart in her ears and the rustle of paper as she attempted to gather them together and dropped them again.

Did she mention she had a fear of giving speeches? Her character completely fell apart whenever she had to give one. Her character was _all she had left_. There was nothing underneath the shell she'd created to protect herself.

Sanjou felt a small measure of pity for the girl who was trying and failing to retrieve the dropped script, and this surprised her. Feeling pity for a Power was like feeling pity for a crouched lioness prepared to attack you. It was like feeling pity for a speeding car racing towards you while its driver was busy talking on the phone. It was like feeling pity for plague-bringing rats and flees, or for vultures right before you die and they start consuming your flesh...

"Thank you, that's enough, Hinamori-san," said Sanjou. She realised that she would just have to distinguish bad from worse. Perhaps it was the chosen material which seemed to offend them all (except, perhaps, Tadase) by mocking their attitudes and beliefs or perhaps they really were just bad actors.

"And next up..."

**-lll-**

"Hey, what do you think teachers say about us when we're not around?" wondered Tadase as he watched Sanjou, Nikaido and Kairi mutter to each other near the front of the room.

"Who cares?" asked Kukai, yawning widely. He'd been yawning too much – the muscles in his face and neck were sore from being overused.

"Well," said Nagihiko, "they probably use words like -"

Rima looked up. "Oh, _do_ continue, I'm not above dobbing you in."

"If they can't hear it, you can't prove it," he said flippantly. "As I was saying, they probably use words like -"

"Oi!" yelled Sanjou with her back to them. "Don't even think about swearing." With that, she turned back to her conversation with her colleague and nephew.

"I thought the Chicken was bad, but the rest were actually worse than he was," said Nikaido.

Sanjou raised an eyebrow. "I thought the principal said that we weren't to use the nicknames that students gave each other?"

"Using it privately shouldn't matter, right?" he said, shrugging in response. "Plus, you hate the guy."

"That doesn't mean he doesn't have the power to fire us at his whim."

"He can't fire me," Kairi spoke up, feeling a little left out.

Sanjou looked at him. "He could expel you."

Kairi nodded. "Good point."

They debated a little while longer before reaching consensus as to who, exactly, was the worst actor. They became slightly sidetracked here and there as people are wont to do in any conversation, particularly when the conversation involved people that the conversers were not particularly fond of. In the meantime, the Powers grew restless.

"Man, how hard is it to bi – uh, _discuss_ some stupid performance?" moaned Kukai. When he looked over and saw that Ikuto appeared to be asleep, he twitched in annoyance.

"Stop talking, you're polluting the air with idiocy," Rima said calmly.

"Says someone who'd get lost if she was ever let out of the house by herself," muttered Yaya.

Rima regarded the cheerleader coolly. "Says somebody who probably doesn't know what 'acuity' means."

"I know what acuity means!" Yaya argued loudly.

"What does it mean then?" challenged Utau.

Yaya sniffed. "If you don't know, then I won't tell you," she said.

The Powers looked up when the teachers and Captain approached them. "We have made our decision," said Nikaido.

"The princess will be, fittingly, Mashiro-san," declared Sanjou.

Kairi smirked. "And our very own Prince Charming will be... Nagihiko Fujisaki."

**~PAGEBREAK~**

**A/N:** So there you have it, ladies and gentlemen! Finally, a plot bunny to get Rimahiko closer! Or not. Who knows what'll happen? Apart from me, of course. But... you'll have to wait a _looong_ time before the day of the Festival. Then again, there's still rehearsals...


	24. From the Top

**A/N:** I know, I'm horrible. But between familial problems, friendship problems, school problems, exam problems and a semi-permanent writer's block problem, I haven't been able to get a chapter written for _ages._ Or, in fact, reply to reviews at all. Yell abuse at me, because I do so deserve it.

**400 reviews!** Even though I totally don't deserve it for being such a lousy updater. Thankyousoverymuch, you are all awesome, and epic, and forgiving, and your reviews do make my day even if sometimes I pull stunts like letting you wait three months for something... Did I mention you're awesome?

**~PAGEBREAK~**

**From the Top**

Ikuto was imprisoned in a slice of Swiss cheese, but that wasn't much of a problem because he could just eat his way out. He was working on the walls when they melted away by themselves and a watch ran away, holding a bunny rabbit. He tried to follow the watch, but the melted cheese clung to him and he couldn't move.

The watch saw his predicament, and stuck its tongue out at him, never mind that watches didn't have tongues. Suddenly he grew orange wings and flew over a landscape of gently rolling hills were dozens of penguins marched on. They all turned to him and said in a suspiciously familiar voice...

"_Tsukiyomi, wake up or I'll make sure you never do!_"

Ikuto opened his eyes. Then he wished he hadn't as the first thing that greeted him was Sanjou's murderous face. Considering how much the woman scowled, it was surprising she didn't get wrinkles. Some shred of self-preservation stopped Ikuto from saying this out loud, which was fortunate because otherwise she really would have seen to it that the boy would fall asleep and never wake up.

"What?" he asked, looking around at everybody. They were all watching him expectantly.

"We're _practicing_, Tsukiyomi," said Sanjou. "Minus five points for sleeping in the middle of an activity."

It took him a moment to figure out what she was talking about. Sanjou had decided on _Sleeping Beauty_ – an adapted Disney version – as their play, casting Utau as the evil fairy (which Kukai remarked was the perfect role, earning him a sneer), Amu and Rima and _Tadase_ as the fairy godmothers (with the predictable resultant jeering), Kukai as the king, and Ikuto had somehow become the Prince's father.

At the front of the room, Kukai was holding a rolled-up jumper with an annoyed look on his face. Apparently the jumper was supposed to represent the baby Beauty, but it mostly looked like, well, a jumper. Everybody else was waiting awkwardly to the side of the room.

"It's not my turn, is it?" he asked, rather certain he only appeared in a later scene.

"Not yet, but you still have to be _awake_. Honestly, how did you fall asleep sitting unsupported?" Sanjou decided against sighing. It was fast becoming a habit with these teenagers, and it was a useless action anyway. A normal person would've probably called it quits right now, but she would be damned if she'd let them take years of her life for nothing.

"Talent," he quipped, stretching.

"Nikaido, continue," she commanded. Nikaido had, somehow, become the narrator of the play because they had run out of Powers and Kairi won in Rock, Paper, Scissors. Both her nephew and her colleague had been aware that asking Sanjou to do it would be akin to suicide. Many things were, with Sanjou.

"_The king and queen gave birth to baby girl, and thought that it was a miracle._" Read Nikaido, in a dull tone. He knew the Powers wouldn't be bothered acting, and that the piece was going to fail miserably anyway, so why bother? The audience will probably be just as ecstatic to merely see their favourites on stage."_They proclaimed the good news throughout the land, bringing much joy and celebration to the kingdom. They invited the fairies to celebrate, and they blessed the girl in gratitude – one gift, no more, no less..._"

"Your child shall grow to be beautiful, with porcelain skin, ruby lips and straw – I mean, hair of spun sunlight," intoned Amu, gesturing idly in the jumper's direction.

"Your child shall have such a beautiful voice that she could bewitch angels," drawled Yaya, checking her nails in case they had fallen off in the five seconds since she'd looked at them last.

"_But then,_" said Nikaido monotonously, "_Maleficent, full of spite and hatred, appeared, furious that she was not invited_."

"I'm furious that I wasn't invited," deadpanned Utau, walking over to Kukai.

"Oh no, it's Maleficent," said Amu in much the same way.

"Ahahaha, I'll teach you to not invite me to things. Curse ye all, and something about a dick," said Utau.

"Prick," supplied Rima from the audience. "But same thing, really."

"Five points from Hoshina and Mashiro!" yelled Sanjou. "And somebody slap them for me!"

Nobody moved. Nobody else in the room was either brave or stupid enough to slap the two blonde girls on the behest of a teacher that they all hated anyway.

"And now I vanish. Cackle, cackle, cackle," said Utau, walking calmly back offstage.

"Oh no, my daughter," said Kukai. "She's become... a _jumper_."

"Um... Your daughter will awaken when she finds her prince with a rose?" Tadase grimaced. He still had no idea why he had been chosen as a fairy. Sanjou had said that Ikuto and Kukai wouldn't make at all passable transvestites, and Nagihiko was already taken, so...

"But she's a _jumper_," cried Kukai dramatically. Compared to the blandness of the lines before it, it was a particularly jarring sentence.

"I don't see why I can't have another wish," said Yaya. "This jumper will always keep its wearer warm and not get holes and things." She paused. "And be pretty and blonde if you're into that kinda thing."

"Oh thank you, stupid fairy, I shall forever wear my daughter as a jumper, 'cause you can never let a good jumper go to waste."

"Good going. Now get to the part with being a prick," called Utau.

"_CUT!_" yelled Sanjou, finally having enough. "Two points from all of you who are absolutely sucking on purpose. _Act_, or _I will_."

"Um," said Nikaido.

"Sucking?" said Nagihiko. "I thought it was rather entertaining. Certainly much better than the other version."

"Shut up. I mean, how hard is it to just pretend that you're trying to act? Or do you secretly wish for embarrassing pictures of you to end up all over the school?" she ranted.

"Um."

"I mean, at least Souma should have some kind of natural talent if he can still get in girls' pants with _his_ reputation!" Sanjou glared at him.

"Um."

"I had a grand total of, like, _one_ _line_!" Kukai protested half-heartedly.

"You were making faces behind Hoshina's back!" argued Sanjou. Utau twitched. She twitched again when Kukai did nothing but yawn.

"U –"

"_What?_" Sanjou rounded on Nikaido.

"School's almost out," he announced, every cell in his body inquiring politely as to the reason that he stayed around this volatile woman rather than, say, screaming and running in the opposite direction. The question drew a blank. Perhaps he was merely mental. That might explain it. He was considering whether there was any chance of him getting a green straightjacket rather than an ordinary white one if he turned himself in to the asylum. Then he realised that Sanjou had turned back to the class.

"One last thing before you leave," she said, for once sounding more like a schoolteacher than a... well, a Sanjou. "We are setting you the task of writing a diary."

Kukai laughed. His laughter quickly died of loneliness.

"Wait, you mean you're serious?" he asked, horrified.

"_Deadly_," she replied, and they knew she meant it. "Of course, we will not read your entries. In two weeks, I expect _all_ of you to hand in some kind of diary. Nikaido and I will flip through the book to check that you have written something inside, and then we will hand them back to you and you may do whatever you wish with it."

"But... diaries are a _girl_ thing," said Kukai. "Like feelings."

"Neanderthal," chorused Utau and Nagihiko. They sent each other a disgusted look, and the silent promise of a slow, excruciating death before glancing away.

Rima caught Yaya's look of confusion, and smirked in satisfaction.

"It _means_-"

"Your face," snapped Yaya quickly. "I don't care, Miss Know-it-all. Go shove your private tutor where the sun don't shine."

"Doesn't shine," Nikaido corrected automatically. He blinked. "I mean... Yuiki!"

"I _meant_ that place called Spork or something," she said, not batting an eyelash.

"Diaries are _not_ a 'girl' thing. Just write down what you think in them or something, okay, Souma?" said Sanjou tiredly. She was so looking forward to not being in the presence of these teenagers anymore.

"Every day," Nikaido added. "Including the weekends."

Amu sighed impatiently and said, "Alright, we get it. Write some stupid stuff in a diary. Can we leave now?"

"Bell rings in a minute," offered Kairi.

"Good, I'm gone," said Ikuto, waving them goodbye as he slipped out the door. The rest of the Powers went, grumbling to themselves and 'accidentally' shoving each other on their way. It was when the echoes left in their wake finally died that the bell rang. Not that it was audible from the room Nikaido, Kairi and Sanjou were in, of course.

The three were left in a blessed silence. Then, tentatively, Sanjou spoke.

"It's the weekends now, right?" she asked, almost afraid as though speaking it out loud would cause it to not be true.

"Yes," answered her nephew. She smiled.

"Thank _god_, I'm _free_ for two days." If she didn't think it was much too undignified, she would have whooped. As it was, she just punched the air silently in joy before sagging exhaustedly in her chair.

Kairi was slowly edging his way to the door, certain that he would be roped into being his aunt's servant if he stayed any longer. He was almost out the door when he heard his aunt's voice from behind him.

"Man, I need a coffee. Kairi, would you be a dear and..."

He ran for it.

**-lll-**

"_This won't work_!" a young pop star screamed. Her manager slowly put down her cup of tea and turned to face the girl with a sigh. Her dyed-raven hair and glasses shone in the light, reaffirming her belief that all those who wielded glasses were bastards.

"What's the problem?" she asked, uninterested.

"The whole choreography," Utau spat. "In the middle of my chorus there're turns and leaps and pole-dancing and _you expect me to cartwheel and sing the climax to my song at the same frigging time_!"

"Then lip-synch," the woman replied offhandedly. Utau was speechless with rage.

"_Lip-synch_?" she demanded. "What is the _point_ of holding a concert if I'm just going to jump prettily and _lip-synch_?"

"I thought you didn't even want to sing the song in the first place. Well, problem solved," she replied testily.

"I am _not_ going to go up there just to move my mouth-"

"Then figure something out." The manager went back to sipping her tea and turned on the television. Utau flexed her fingers but reminded herself that, ultimately, it was a bad idea to strangle this woman. She was trying to figure something out, which was the point. Even if the songs she sang weren't hers, even if she hated them, she couldn't bear the thought of letting her fans down by doing something so low. It was a matter of pride, even more important since she'd been stripped of almost all other things she could take pride in.

"Look," she said finally, "if we just change this step here to a..."

"Not interested," said her manager. "Just lip-synch it, Jesus. It'd take less energy out of you and lets the professionals do their job. Win-win situation."

Utau knew that she couldn't do anything now. Scowling, the girl muttered an insult under her breath.

"What was that?" she asked. Utau smiled sweetly, helped by the fact that she'd spent way too much time in the presence of the purple-bastard.

"Nothing, Shizuka," she sing-songed on her way out.

"Don't call me by my name! It's 'boss' to you!" her manager yelled at her retreating back.

So Utau may have lost the round, but the war hadn't even started yet. She swore that she wouldn't let herself become a mindless puppet, and she knew that she _would_ win. Anything else was unthinkable.

**l-l-l**

_Dear Thing to Be Burnt Soon,_

_ This is utterly ridiculous. And right now, I'm in the mood to murder someone. But I will win, oh yes. I will have the last laugh. And not a damn puny laugh either, but the kind of laugh that mad villains use in television shows, the kind of laugh that would have me booked on an appointment with a mind-doctor in a heartbeat._

_ Not that I don't already. The stupid Sidekick and that Demoness hired those stupid councillor people already, right? I mean, how sucky can things get? Seriously. They __suck__. Also, YOU __**suck**__, because if you're reading this then you broke your stupid promise. Not like we think you're gonna keep it anyway, so there._

_ You suck, you suck, you suck, suck, suck. You should just go and die in a hole, and if I weren't too talented to be locked up then I would put you there._

_ And your teaching sucks. Both of you._

_Your potential murderer,  
__Flaming Star_

**~PAGEBREAK~**

**A/N:** So... Updates will be sporadic for now. I will try, _try _to keep lengths between updates shorter, but...


	25. Encounters

**A/N:** Look, look! I didn't make you guys wait ages again! And I apologise in advance for the slight swearing again, but without the teachers there... Well, they're teenagers.

**~PAGEBREAK~**

**Encounters**

Yaya wondered idly if lettuce had any calories as she inspected all the vegetables that the store had to offer. Deciding that lettuce did not, in fact, have calories - or at least not enough to worry about - she quickly added some to her basket, alongside a few apples, carrots and a small amount of cheese. Satisfied, she strutted to the counter and paid for the food. Yaya was confident that she could make grocery shopping look glamorous, and the strange glances that she was receiving only strengthened that belief.

Stepping outside, Yaya was confronted with a sight that she really did not need to see. Kukai,_ damn him for living in the same town as I do_, was flirting. Or perhaps flirting was too light a word for what he was doing. He was... _seducing_ some poor girl. He was whispering something in the girl's ear, a hand gently cupping her jaw. Yaya was going to turn around and walk away before she barfed all over her shoes when she finally recognised the girl.

The girl was _on her team_. She was the one with daddy connections who looked like a dead squid with ten left feet when she tried to dance. And she was breaking one of the first rules that Yaya had set down at the beginning of the year: _no flirting or sleeping with jocks unless Yaya Yuiki personally approves it as Head Cheerleader_. She was being disobeyed and that just was _not done_.

She stalked up to the oblivious couple, fighting the urge to retch when the girl laughed nasally and fluttered her eyelashes in a way that made her look as though she were having a seizure.

"Penny!" barked Yaya, her hands on her hip as she glared at them both. She took some satisfaction in seeing the girl jump away from the Phoenix as though she'd been burned. Kukai merely shot her an annoyed look.

"My name's Penelope," she said, drawing herself up and trying to stare down the Power. Anybody could've told her that it was stupid to try to outdo a Power: _any_ Power.

"You are what I say you are, and you _do_ what I _say_ you do," snapped Yaya.

"Jealous, Yuiki?" drawled Kukai, slinging an arm around Penelope's shoulders.

"Oh yes, I always wanted to date a cheerleader," Yaya deadpanned, barely paying him any attention. Right then she had bigger fish to fry. If one girl dared to question her authority as a Power and as Head, then the other members of her team would soon follow. As a Power, they knew best that authority was mostly perceived and about as insubstantial as mist.

"Great. Now, Polly and I have things to do, places to be..."

"My name's Penelope," she protested. He leaned down and whispered something else in her ear before nibbling at her earlobe, which caused the girl to blush and Yaya to gag.

"If you don't leave right now, you will be off the team faster than you can say 'slut' and I will have the school calling you Pee Pee by Monday," she said confidently. She paused. "Actually, I might do that anyway, just for fun."

Penelope opened her mouth to argue, but the look on Yaya's face made her close it again. Shooting the smaller girl a look of mixed fury and fear, she pushed Kukai away and hurried home. Yaya could have crowed in satisfaction.

"What the hell's your problem, Yuiki?" yelled Kukai.

"Oh boohoo, you're not getting laid tonight," she sneered, holding her nose in the air and about to walk off with her groceries.

"Frigid _Bitch_!"

"Whatever, asshole."

**-lll-**

The strong smell of flowers invaded Amu's nose and she sneezed, but she didn't mind. She'd loved flowers ever since her mother had taken her to a flower field and had told her that flowers were the souls of emotion. There was the added bonus that nobody from their school would be caught dead in a flower shop. Flowers weren't cool, especially since all the female Powers had, at some point in their high school lives, metaphorically and sometimes literally crushed an admirer's flowers beneath their heel.

Which was why she was shocked when she heard a voice that sounded suspiciously like it belonged to Tadase asking the florist whether they had tulips. Amu slowly peeked out from behind a large arrangement of flowers. She'd been right. Tadase stood there, his eyes shining with sincerity.

With a muffled squeak that she would forever deny she could make, Amu ducked again, eyes wide and her hands covering her mouth in shock. She'd had a crush on him for _years_ and now she meets him here? A part of her was dancing for joy and singing that the fates were aligning so that they could be together, but a larger part of her just wanted him to leave. She wasn't sure if she could handle the stress of talking to her crush (who she saw _every day_ now at school) and acting 'cool and spicy'. Especially not here in the flower shop where she escaped to whenever she could.

"And lavenders?" she heard him ask politely. The florist said that, yes, they had lavenders as well, and would he like to have them arranged and wrapped up?

Amu's nose tickled. _Oh no_...

A loud sneeze reverberated around the shop, the force of it knocking her against the table which caused the stand holding the arrangement to topple. On reflex, she reached out to catch it, finding herself completely exposed to the stares that both the florist and Tadase were subjecting her to. She couldn't help it; she blushed. And then she drew on her protective shell.

"What're you doing here, Prince?" she asked coolly.

"Hinamori-san," he greeted, eying her warily. "I'm buying flowers."

"Obviously," she said, managing to inject boredom into her voice even though her heart was thumping erratically in her chest.

"What are you doing here? Last time you got flowers didn't you throw them in the trash?"

"Are they for your girlfriend?" she blurted out, her face reddening again in mortification. "I mean, you're always turning your fangirls down and stuff."

"I... don't have to tell you anything," snapped Tadase, paying for the flowers and leaving. Amu followed him, needing to know. If he _did_ have a girlfriend: and really, he was nice and a Power and he wasn't exactly harsh o the eyes so why wouldn't he? If he had a girlfriend, maybe Amu could get over her crush which had been going on for so long that it felt more like a burden than anything else. And if he didn't... Well, maybe Amu had a chance? She mentally snorted. Yeah, right – he had _fangirls _that were closer to him than she would ever get. He hated her.

"Why are you following me?" he asked finally, the silent girl walking by his side starting to freak him out just a bit. She shrugged.

"I wanna see your girlfriend," she said honestly.

"I don't have – I mean, what, so you can sneak into her house tonight and take her as a hostage?" he said harshly. She turned and looked at him.

"You don't have a girlfriend?" she asked, hating how hopeful she sounded. "Then who're the flowers for?"

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Even though Amu was a Power, at least she wasn't showing much animosity. And she _was_ still a girl, and you had to be polite to girls.

"It's... personal."

She let out a "Well, duh," before she could stop herself.

"Could you just go away, Hinamori?" he snapped, not managing to feel guilty when he saw her flinch ever so slightly. After all, she was a Power and she was prodding him for information that she really didn't have the right to know.

"Go away?" she said derisively, her mask of indifference sliding into place once more. "Get over yourself. I also happen to be heading in the same direction as you, _Prince_."

"Yeah? Well then, stop talking to me!" he hissed.

Amu rolled her eyes, trying not to show the hurt. "Whatever."

They walked down the street in silence, each fuming at the other.

**-lll-**

Utau browsed through the store, running her fingers through the assorted CDs and DVDs and taking another sip of water. She was taking a lunch break from rehearsal. It was rather brutal, especially since she tried to sing the song while going through the routine, which just didn't seem to be possible. She ended up gasping like a fish before the last verse and wondering why there was a triple back flip in the air during the second chorus. All it served to do was make her nauseous.

Something caught her eye.

There, on the cover of one of the DVDs, was a girl in the midst of a dance beyond anything Utau could hope to achieve. Her long, purple hair was tied in a pale blue bow, and superimposed above her was just one word.

_Nadeshiko_.

And, no matter which way she turned the cover or what angle she looked at it from, she swore that it looked just like a younger Nagihiko, only the smile on her face wasn't phony.

She turned the cover over to read the blurb.

_Nadeshiko inspires everyone across the country with her grace and powerful..._

Utau didn't read further, because then she saw a logo on the corner of the cover. _Mystique Productions_.

She purchased the disc and made a mental note to examine it further when she had the time. For now, though, she had to get back to doing fancy movements and trying to sing a horrendous song in the meantime.

**-lll-**

A woman in her early forties and a business suit stood outside a very large, very old house which was just shy of being called a mansion. She held a cell phone to her ear, an irritated look on her face. Next to her stood a small, dainty-looking blonde girl, staring at the ground beneath her feet.

"Where _is_ he?" the woman muttered, scowling.

Rima kept her eyes down and scuffed her shoes on the ground.

"Don't do that," her mother scolded immediately. "And look up. You won't get anywhere if you look so submissive. Chin up, back straight and look ahead. God, where _is_ he?"

_God's in heaven, if you believe the bible-toting Christians,_ thought Rima although she bit her tongue and said nothing. It wasn't wise to backchat her mother, especially when she was this tense.

The appearance of a sleek, black and expensive-looking car broke her train of thought. Her mother crossed her arms, looking livid as a man stepped out and hurried up to them.

"Where have you _been_? You're half an hour late!" she yelled, slipping her phone back into her pocket.

The man looked annoyed. "The meeting went later than I thought it would. It's not like I could just ask them to _leave_ because my 'wife', in the very loosest of terms, is being a..."

"You're always like this! Can't even make time for your own _daughter_," she declared, gesturing to Rima.

"Oh? As though you don't get the nannies to do all your mothering for you while you go off to have a spa day or something," he sneered.

"I'll have you know that my work -"

"And _mine_ is less -?"

"It's because of you that the driver resigned -!"

"And _not_ because you keep sending him out to buy everything from groceries to -?"

"Don't make this about me -!"

"Well, you're always making it about _me _-"

"That's because you -"

"Mother, father, the tutor is waiting," said Rima quietly. She was looking down at her feet again, unwilling to watch her parents fight and squabble. They were separated, because a divorce was too messy and could cause a scandal. Because they both argued that they hadn't the time to care for her, they had come to an agreement in which she would spend one week with each parent. And because they didn't trust schools in general, they'd enrolled her in a government school nearby to save on driving time and then hired personal tutors.

Her father barely spared her a glance but her mother scowled. "What did I just say about looking at the floor, Rima? Look up, look ahead and look proud or you'll never make it to the top."

Rima obligingly lifted her eyes, but in that moment she looked anything but proud. Her mother huffed, clearly unsatisfied.

"Well then, hurry up," her father snapped, striding back to the car. Rima hurried to keep up, letting her gaze fall back to the ground. She was never able to look up when she was around her parents for any length of time. They always made her feel... insignificant.

Rima hated feeling insignificant.

**-lll-**

Amu peered into the room, holding a hand to her mouth. She knew that Tadase knew that she was there, but he was ignoring her and she was keeping her distance in an attempt to give him some privacy.

They were in a hospital, and Tadase sat by the bed of his grandmother, holding her hand. The flowers had been placed in a vase at the foot of the bed, and there was no sound in the room other than that of the heart rate monitor and the low murmur of Tadase's voice.

Honestly, she almost couldn't believe that Tadase visited his comatose grandmother every day – it just seemed like... a story: a fairytale wherein the hero is good and wholesome and he uses this to defeat the bad guys. Call her cynical, but she hadn't been able to believe that any of the Powers could be able to show that kind of humanity.

Oh no, she could feel her crush surging back, stronger than ever. She buried her face in her hands with a moan. She'd _never_ make it through the next fortnight. Or, at least, not without completely and absolutely humiliating herself past the point of no return.

Amu 'Cool and Spicy' Hinamori had a crush on Tadase 'Prince' Hotori.

This could not, _would_ not, end well.

**-lll-**

Kukai watched as the glowing green numbers on his clock shifted from 00:59 to 01:00. This was the second night in a row that he hadn't been able to find a girl. Last night, his parents had called for him to go back home after getting a phone call from the teachers about trashing the art rooms. Today had Yaya frigging Yuiki chasing away his prospective date. And then he'd had to work, and he hadn't had time and now he couldn't sleep.

Again.

His eyes drifted from the clock face to the photo frame laying face-down on the table. Kukai groaned and turned resolutely away from the photo frame. Thinking about it would not help his insomnia. He lay there for a while, staring at the wall.

He shifted.

Lay there.

Closed his eyes.

Shifted.

Turned.

Scratched an itch.

Lay there.

Opened his eyes.

The clock read 1:19.

"Shit," he said resignedly. It was going to be a long night.


	26. AN Again Again

**A/N: So. It turns out that the person who is going to continue this fic is... me! But the style and stuff is so different it may as well be a new writer. :P There's a bigger focus on one-on-one relationship building and stuff as opposed to the group activities. The chapters may not necessarily be in chronological order, but for the most part it will be.**

**This way, we'll hopefully get deeper characterisation and things. We'll see how it goes. :)**

**EDIT: Umm, apparently I forgot to mention this before, if the reviews I got were anything to go by. Sorry! ^^' I'm continuing this in a separate fic. The title of it is _EP: Take Two_. My bad... :P So yeah. Check it out if you want to.  
**


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